Sunday 20 November 2016

The strong westerly and north westerly winds had subsided and the direction had swung round to north easterly overnight bringing with it an extremely pleasant, all be it cold, day with plenty of sightings to report. The most notable sighting of the day concerned a Little Egret which was hiding behind part of a stone jetty at Cafn, on the Narrows. A flash of bright white and yellow feet as it rose up and headed across the bay and round the east side of the island disappearing quickly out of sight. Elsewhere on the Narrows three Redshanks, 14 Turnstones and nine Rock Pipits busily worked the shingle and seaweed around the high tide mark as six Choughs did the same amongst the sand on Solfach, a Grey Heron and two Mallards were other additions.

The digging signs of busy Choughs alongside the footprints of Oystercatchers
Inland there was clearly an arrival of thrushes, mostly comprising of Song Thrushes of which 19 were counted but also 14 Blackbirds and a single Redwing. A movement of finches was also evident as 40 Chaffinches moved overhead in a northerly direction along with two Brambling, a Siskin, Goldfinch and two Linnets. A small flock of 11 Rooks spent the morning in the North West Fields mingling with some of the seven Carrion Crows logged, 484 Starlings, some around the farm and others at the North End, a Woodcock at the Observatory, two Wood Pigeons, a Skylark, four Meadow Pipits, a Chiffchaff, seven Goldcrests and a Reed Bunting were amongst other notables.

Gulls and seabirds off the coast were present but in small amounts, Razorbills passed in small numbers, 50 the total sum along with 100 unidentified auk species. A feeding flock of gulls passed up the West Coast slowly during the course of the morning following the racing tide and was made up of 295 Black-headed Gulls, four Herring Gulls, a Greater Black-backed Gull and 68 Kittiwakes.

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