Thursday 30 November 2017


Bitter northerly winds persisted today driving heavy showers across the island providing some exciting weather conditions in which to census.

Along the West Coast just north of Solfach hidden amongst the rock pools at low tide was a very nice gathering of Wildfowl, a drake Gadwall, single Wigeon, ten Teals and 20 Mallards. Considering how rare Gadwall is as a species on the island and with no plumage differences discernible from the individual seen just under a week ago (although we could be wrong) its safer to assume its the same bird residing on the island. A fantastic gathering of species recorded together, especially on an island where wildfowl can be hard to come by at times. A lone Shelduck was also present close by.

Just south, around the Narrows, a variety of waders were on show scattered amongst the beaches and bays, 46 Oystercatchers, a single Purple Sandpiper and Whimbrel, 20 Curlews, four Redshanks, and eight Turnstones were final tallies along with nine Rockpipits and a Shag.

Inland a good number of Thrushes again were seen mostly through the Lowlands and around the gardens, 31 Blackbirds, five Song Thrushes and a Redwing. Chaffinch numbers had taken a sharp decline today compared to yesterdays total of 82 as groups obviously passed straight through, today only one was recorded.

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