Saturday 26th October

Only about 1.5 hours of birdable light was available before the rain front descended and shrouded the site in mist and gloom. Heading into the fresh southerly, 280 Gannet, 270 Kittiwake, 90 auk spp., eight Common Scoter, three Arctic Skua (plus two skua spp.), two Great Northern Diver, a Red-throated Diver plus another very close in from the seawall later in the afternoon, by which time the open sea was nearly birdless.

In the estuary, 2,040 Wigeon, a four-figure count of Oystercatcher, 249 Redshank, 162 Great Black-backed Gull (the highest count here this year, bolstered by birds sheltering from the weather), 83 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 62 Curlew, 29 Turnstone, 27 Cormorant, 17 Dunlin, 16 Mute Swan, 12 Canada Goose, 11 Shelduck, ten Teal, ten Greenshank, six Red-breasted Merganser, six Sanderling, five Little Egret, four Great Crested Grebe, two each of Ringed Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Mediterranean Gull, Sandwich Tern and the pair of Black Swan. Also, a Golden Plover flew over, one Grey Heron, and the resident Slavonian Grebe was accompanied for a while by a Little Grebe.

A roaming party of nine Long-tailed Tit, mixed tits, a Chiffchaff and a Chaffinch hugged the leeward side of wooded areas. The immature Sparrowhawk was again seen exhibiting its hunting tactic of skimming the ground, but apart from a flock of c40 Goldfinch, potential passerine prey was sparsely visible with only a few Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail out exposed and braving the unsettled conditions.

The day's highlight a was Scandinavian Rock Pipit near the lifeguard hut this afternoon, sporting a yellow-ringed coded '632', ringed on Giske Island, Norway.