Weekend Wanderings

My weekend wanderings consisted of two days at the Obs; yesterday and today. It was still cold yesterday with full cloud cover and a 10 mph northeasterly wind. It was obvious fairly quickly that there wasn't a great deal on the move and even less grounded.

My vis count included two Grey wagtails, 106 Meadow Pipits, ten Carrion Crows, eight Alba Wagtails and three Siskins. The sea was quiet too and all that ventured amongst the lines of my notebook were seven Cormorants, five Eiders, eleven Common Scoters, my first Velvet Scoter of the year, a Red-throated Diver and two Teal.

As I said earlier grounded migrants were very thin on the ground and all I had was a single Goldcrest. No Barn Owls this morning but a pair of Kestrels carried the raptor flag.

This morning Kim and I had a ringing session at the Obs but it was very slow. We ringed just eight birds as follows:

Greenfinch - 1
Meadow Pipit - 6
Reed Bunting - 1

 Meadow Pipit

The vis was even slower than yesterday but did include a Brambling north. The Brambling's supporting cast consisted of 37 Meadow Pipits, a Chaffinch, ten Alba Wags and a Grey Wagtail. The only other thing of note was a Barn Owl being mobbed by Gulls as it sped back towards it's nest site!