The Witching Hour!

At last, a nice calm day with a light SSE'ly wind. Jack trapped another Long-eared Owl before breakfast. I was on South census while Jack had the North. I thought it might have gone with the calming of the weather but the Woodlark was still faithful to Neder Taft, where a Barred Warbler also popped up! The recent thrush theme continued with over 1,100 in the south, but fewer in the north and there was a noticeable clearout, of Blackbirds in particular, at around 4pm with the traps suddenly devoid! Woodcocks too were evident and I flushed a total of 72 on my census. There was another Barred Warbler at Haa and a Common Rosefinch at Lower Leogh, a Yellowhammer at Schoolton and Lesser Whitethroat at Shirva - a very brown bird with a much-reduced grey hood but still with a distinct eye mask, of which we get quite a few each autumn, and what we used to call 'blythii' but perhaps may be 'halimodendri'? Meanwhile Jack finally caught up with the Shorelark at Dronger!

Hollie took our three wee ones and Lowri out on Storm, with Bijoux dutifully tagging along. All the kids enjoyed their little ride, although the ponies were both in 'a funny mood' and Fyntan got a shock when Storm's fast trot suddenly turned into a couple of strides of canter and a wee buck before he was halted. Fyn did superbly well to stay onboard and remain 'fairly' calm!
Kids all went out 'trick or treating' as soon as it got dark, followed with everyone meeting at Auld Haa for some ghoulish food and a few pints of Witches Brew!

Maximum!

A return to gales and although Thursday started out very mild with clear skies, by mid-morning we had been consumed in thick fog resulting in the abandonment of trying to count anything and having to resort to wandering around in the hope of tripping over a good bird! Friday arrived and the fog had cleared but the SE'ly wind was just as strong. Thrushes are still moving through in good numbers - over 3,000 counted in total. More Woodcocks have also arrived with over 100 flushed by myself and Jack - so the actual number present must be many times more than this! Both Woodlark and Shorelark are still present whilst the only other new things were a male Yellowhammer, male Red-breasted Merganser and a female Long-eared Owl - a delightful reward for Jack on the early morning trapround!


We had Iain & Ruth from Setter for tea on Thursday as it was Ruth's birthday. It was a very relaxed affair involving lots of pizza and cous-cous but as they were leaving, a spark shot out onto Iains leg! It turns out Lubo has, for the third time, chewed through the wire to the storage heater in the porch. He knew he'd done wrong too! He's lucky he hasn't electrocuted himself and he was reprimanded for it (again).

Later on, I played some of my worst darts ever at Darts Club........and then out of the blue scored a maximum ooone hundred and eeeiighteey!!

Ponies are looking decidedly hairy again in preparation for the winter!

Kids are preparing for Halloween tomorrow!

We're out to Kenaby for tea tonight......another birthday celebration for Ruth!!!

Larking about!

Just a breath of SW'ly today made census very pleasant. My thrash around the North once again produced lots of thrushes (350 Blackbird, 240 Fieldfare, 215 Redwing & 20 Song Thrush) but highlight was a nice Shorelark at Wester Lother. A couple of Chiffchaffs at the Peat Cuttings were of the very clean grey & white variety and therefore do not fit the current criteria for Sibe Chiff but where they fit in is open to debate!
In the south, Jack had the Woodlark again and arrivals of Collared Dove and Wheatear but thrushes dominated here too - 235 Blackbird, 1,300 Fieldfare, 600 Redwing, 13 Song Thrush.

Hardly any wind but low cloud delayed planes 'til the afternoon. This meant that first day back at school was disrupted for the Primary bairns (who never got their day-trip to the Science Fair in Lerwick) and non-existent for the High School eens whose plane departed Tingwall just as the bell sounded!

Ditto!

Tuesday reads pretty much the same as Monday with thrushes the main meal with 250 Blackbird and 220 Redwing. The Woodlark was once again star bird but two Black Redstarts, 7 Jackdaw, a handful of Dunnocks, Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests and a couple of Redpolls were also seen. Adult male Peregrine and juvenile female Merlin kept them all alert!

Bye Bye Simon!

Following a weekend of Easterly gales and driving rain with no hope of finding any birds (tho' we did try!) this morning arrived much calmer - a light but cool N'ly. After the morning plane, carrying our Chairman, the Architect and AW Simon away, I headed off round the North. It was a pleasant walk but other than thrushes (130 Blackbird was top species) there was little to report; a single Jackdaw and a Black Redstart at the Mast being the highlight.
Meanwhile AW Jack covered the entire South himself where he had far more thrushes (eg 400 Redwing, 363 Fieldfare and 180 Blackbird). The Woodlark lingers at Neder Taft and a scattering of Robins, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Reed Buntings were noted.

Much of my weekend was taken up going round the New Obs room by room with Hollie, Roy Dennis and David Russell finalising layouts so that the electricians, plumbers and joiners can assemble them. It was a really productive couple of days and whilst the workmen get on with that we can start to think about raising some funds to furbish the place. Yet more fundraising! Anybody know a generous furniture store owner?

Arrivals & Departures

The wind is calming down making it more birdable! Bird of the day must go to the Woodlark at Neder Taft. A Stock Dove was new for the autumn and a Richard's Pipit was also a new arrival whilst Jackdaws have reached double figures. Thrushes once again were the main meal with over 1,000 each of Redwing and Fieldfare with 600 Blackbird but just two Ring Ouzel spotted. Woodcock was the next most abundant bird logged with 37 counted. A Shelduck on Easter Lother is on Simon's radar for tonights dazzling foray! Oh, and yesterday's bunting was indeed just a Yellowhammer - Jack had one at Quoy.

Other news.....Planes got in for the first time since Monday!!! The in-laws got out and were replaced with our Chairman and the Obs architect who have come to have a look around and iron out a few minor details.

One Bright Spark!

A couple of days of 50mph SE'ly winds has severely hampered census. Everything got covered in salt spray yesterday but this has been diluted a little today by almost constant rain!! Lovely!

As has been the way lately, its thrushes that dominate the counts, although actually counting them has been tricky but 2,000+ Redwings have been logged and a few hundred other species combined, including 6+ Ring Ouzels. The one flash of inspiration has been a smart wee Firecrest in Gunnawark on Wednesday afternoon whilst this afternoon five Jackdaws dropped in, some with partial white collars.......and Simon trapped three of them at the Chalet!! I flushed a Bunting out of Raeva which called like a Yellowhammer but with rain-soaked shaking 'bins I couldn't get anything on it! So, if a Pine Bunting is found tomorrow........