Wednesday 20 November 2013

It was incredibly windy today, with gusts of 50 mph pummelling the island for the best part of the day. This wind, coupled with the very low temperatures, made it feel like the Arctic. The composition of birdlife wasn't that dissimilar either! Essentially, there was very little indeed around the island, although Solfach seemed to be the main centre of activity. The now resident Hooded Crow was feeding alongside 800 Starlings and the flock of overwintering Choughs on the rotting piles of kelp. A large gull flock of over 400 Herring Gulls dodged waves in the bay, and a handful of Kittiwakes, Common Gulls and Black-headed Gulls were also amongst them. Thre Dunlins joined the usual 40 Turnstones and 15 Redshanks on the rocks to the west of Solfach. Inland, a Siberian Chiffchaff was discovered at Ty Pellaf, feeding alongside a Chiffchaff in the relative shelter around the back of the buildings. This tristis-type Chiffchaff is probably the same bird that was seen at Cristin a few days ago.

 There were some quite impressive waves crashing off and onto the island, produced by the gale-force winds. There is actually a Kittiwake somewhere in this image
 Kittiwake (top) and Herring Gulls (bottom) against the stormy backdrop
 Although the bird did not call, it was a very prominent tristis-looking Chiffchaff, especially when feeding alongside the normal collybita
Siberian Chiffchaff (bottom of the image) to compare to Chiffchaff (top)

No comments:

Post a Comment