yorkslister

Despite this being an afternoon island I get out in the field a bit earlier today than has been the case but within a matter of minutes it's obvious there's not a lot happening. I keep telling myself the clear skies last night triggered everything to leave and new stuff will be in by mid morning but by dinner all I have to show are a handful of Lap and Snedge Bunts and one of the Little Bunts seen previously. All enthusiasm gradually drains away despite my location and I get ready to clear off back to Tingwall.

A visit to Kergord is in the cards as there's 2 OBP's there, I quickly realise that the birds are pretty approachable and wait for the crowd of about 6 to fuck off and leave me in peace. In the 20 minutes or so I spend near these lads I realise how used to having birds to myself I've become lately, I'm sure they were really good blokes but I found myself being a grumpy bastard and being relieved when they'd gone, sorry fellas!

Anyway with a bit of patience and fieldcraft I got crippling views down to 15-20 feet. When so close I could hear the birds givign a contact call, like the normal call but really quiet and unhurried lacking the normal explosiveness. Shame the light had gone, I had to whack the ISO up to 1000 to get this shot.






Just realised Tues is missing, not sure what happened there. In the morning it was cracking loads of Thrushes and Brambling arriving but despite a brief scare with an islander claiming a Geat Snipe we failed to find it didn't amount to much. By the afternoon the wind had got up from the west and I got fed up it felt like Foula all over again!