Tuesday 4 September 2012

Wests for now...

We got blasted by westerly winds today that peaked at 60mph, so, not surprisingly, there weren't a lot of new birds to be found. Winner of the 'how on Earth did it do that?' award was the juvenile Sand Martin that arrived today, well done to that little fella for battling against the elements to make it here (unless it was a 'Bank Swallow' from America of course...!). Seawatching produced just one Sooty Shearwater (off Buness), although a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls were noted heading south and 26 were on Meoness, by far the largest count of recent weeks.
Lingering birds included the Arctic Warbler (on 3rd, with a Phyllosc glimpsed in the Gully on 4th suggesting it was still present), Barred Warbler, Fieldfare and two Common Rosefinch (on 3rd, with one at the Obs on 4th).
Tomorrow looks like it will be a bit calmer, but a few more days of westerlies look to be on the cards after that. However, there is some promise on the horizon... Forecasts seem to suggest that we could be in for a week or so of easterlies from next Wednesday. That's still a way off, so anything could happen, but it's got us excited! We've still got a couple of rooms free at the Obs from 14th, so you could time a visit for some potentially very good birding...

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