A rather slack,grey sea above which the sighing wind could be heard, a situation which is strange, if you live near the coast, and are used to the restless energy of the sea and its more noisy interaction with the coast.
A migration watch had almost 700 Auks move north, probably all Razorbill. With a few moving north the majority of Gannet flew south today with almost a hundred involved in total. Two individual Manx Shearwater went south, possibly the first of the year but difficult to say with my not being here.Odd birds had recently been seen off the Solway. Odd L.B.B.G., Black-headed Gull,a Red-throated Diver and a couple of Ringed Plover beat their way northwards as did a few Eider.
Meadow Pipits, in small numbers and singletons, went through north. Still quite low numbers are "on the hill" so they're several days behind their normal arrival time, although with suitable weather doubtless this will rectify itself quickly. More obviously absent in numbers are "alba" wagtails of which we usually have quite a pronounced early passage. The "usual" passage of Goldfinch now seems to be underway and birds were noted later in the garden.
The local Black Guillemots were at their best with around 20 in total whirring back and forth above the sea surface like so many clockwork toys! Later a female Merlin sat on a fence line near the coast, one of several birds reported recently. I wonder the extent to which these are returning Icelandic birds as opposed to Scottish ones?
No comments:
Post a Comment