Stormy conditions resumed today after a brief bit of rest bite yesterday. The winds were howling and rain came down in the bucket load overnight to leave the island looking saturated and with slightly fewer leaves left on the trees this morning. Out at sea it was a four Skua species day, with three
Pomarine Skuas, 25
Arctic Skuas, two
Long-tailed Skuas and 35
Great Skuas moving south off the West Coast along with four
Leach's Petrels and five
Sooty Shearwaters. With such strong westerly winds it seemed like only a matter of time before a
Grey Phalarope would show up, and sure enough a lovely confiding individual was found feeding along the shoreline in Solfach late in the afternoon. On the land, a
Ring Ouzel that flew over Cristin was the first of the autumn and only the third this year.
Other birds logged today included a
Great Northern Diver, four
Fulmars, 535
Manx Shearwaters, 457
Gannets, 13
Cormorants, 13
Common Scoters, 50
Golden Plovers, a
Dunlins, three
Whimbrels, 25
Turnstones, 436
Kittiwakes, 30
Sandwich Terns, 173
Arctic Terns, 17
'Commic' Terns, four
Guillemots, 1468
Razorbills, 22
Swallows, two
House Martins, 111
Meadow Pipits, a
White Wagtail, two
Whinchats, two
Stonechats, eight
Wheatears, a
Ring Ouzel, a
Blackcap, seven
Chiffchaffs, nine
Goldcrests, two
Chaffinches, 33
Goldfinches and 63
Linnets.
The Grey Phalarope showed well just offshore in Solfach, frantically feeding amongst the foam before taking off and flying strongly north up the island. Grey Phalarope photo © Joe Brownlie
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