My 'bogey' bites the dust

Every birder has their 'bogey' bird, but I reckon mine was taking the piss 'big time'. I've dipped Rustic Bunting on at least a dozen attempts so far, and I didn't think this afternoon was going to be any different. How wrong I was.... thankfully!

The total of today's sightings were made up of; Rustic Bunting, Arctic Redpoll, Melodious Warbler, Common Rosefinch, 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, Turtle Dove, Wood Warbler, Merlin, Kestrel, 5 Bramblings and a Song Thrush.

A ridiculously tame Turtle Dove;

A 'snowball' of an Arctic Redpoll

and a 'stripey' NW Redpoll;

Variety.

Still quite a few migrants about despite the fact we're now getting Westerly winds up here. The last couple of days have seen a good variety of species, though only in ones and twos. The numbers of birds and species I've found on South Yell included; 1 Rosefinch, 1 Redstart, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Whinchat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Ruff and various Blackcaps and Willow Warblers. Also had the briefest of views of a probable fly over Yellow Wag too... Mammals sightings recently have included the now expected Polecats and Hares.

Blackcap showing uncharacteristically well; and the usual crappy pic of a Rosefinch. These all seem extremely flighty this year;

EOW...

Highlight of the day was the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler at Ireland. This bird refused to show well in the three hours I was able to be there, but I did get a couple of record shots (really bad too!) but a special thanks to AW (garden owner) who couldn't have been more helpful. Also found a Common Rosefinch while looking for the EOW. (the rosefinch had been present the day before, but as nobody released the news! and under the 'Punk Birder' rules... "I'm 'avin' it as self found"!) and a fly over Whimbrel was nice too...
This Yellow Wagtail was found while I was parked and talking on my mobile. This bird just appeared next to the car, and happily posed for all of 30 secs or so, before flying off. (pics a bit better than the EOW as well) Below is a list of all today's sightings;

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
Common Rosefinch
Yellow Wagtail
Common Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Spotted Flycatcher

also; 3 Polecats and a Mountain Hare.

And still they come!

Only out for a 2 hours today due to being on Night shift, but well worth it! The totals today for South Yell are;

3 Common Rosefinch
2 Spotted Flycatchers
1 Redstart (first of year)
1 Garden Warbler
1 Ruff
1 Goldcrest (first of year)
Blackcap (quite a few)
Willow Warblers (quite a few)

And a Greenshank, 2 Polecats and 2 Otters from yesterday also!

AGP.

All the hours working the South of Yell, finally payed off this morning. This good looking American Goldie, was found at Hamnavoe on the South coast of Yell an hour after setting out on my 'patch'. Being aware of how fussy the records committee can be, I thought I'd better get as many pics as possible to make sure it was accepted! I was told a while back by a very respected birder, that to get an AGP accepted, you have to "see the underwing colour"! and that "every 10 minutes or so, Goldies always lift their wings and stretch"... an hour later, and this bird hadn't, even though lot's of it's friends were doing this. Thankfully shortly after this, the birds then decided to fly the short distance to the shore for a quick wash, and it was then that I managed to grab a couple of flight shots (more luck than anything else!)...

Brownish underwing, compared to the Goldie;

And a pic of a Goldie too; just a shame the AGP didn't pose like this!

The rest of my area was checked after I'd enjoyed this bird. This proved that a lot was still arriving, even in the 60mph winds...

Totals today inc; 1 Common Rosefinch (new), 2 Spotted Flycatchers, 1 Knot, 3 Willow Warblers and a poss Barred Warbler that refused to show for me.

One of the Spotted Flys 'fresh in';

Nightmare!

Total nightmare today! The day started well with a Barred Warbler on my morning dog walk, but then a lot of leg work for little reward! With a daily total of 3 Barred Warblers and a Common Rosefinch this might sound ungrateful, but when it seems that every one else is finding Arctic Warblers, and I covered what seemed like the whole of South Yell! Still there is always tomorrow as they say...

Perplexing migrant passerines!

The title refers not to the 'identification' of migrant birds, but to the fact that there are migrant birds at all! The fact that we are getting NW winds, and have been for a while now, should mean that very few if any European migrants should be present! So the Common Rosefinch, Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatcher and Willow Warblers I found on Yell this morning, were all a bit of a surprise...

Wood Warbler
Pied Flycatcher (a different bird to last week);

The 2 Ruff and 9 Bar-tailed Godwits also in Burravoe today, are probably the ones present now for a few days, though they are very mobile and well away from where they had been!

Twite numbers are still increasing around my patch too.

Twite;

Back on 'patch'

It's been good to be out on my local patch again. Due to a combination of work and other commitments, I've spent precious little time birding my own area! I just hope that today's good birds weren't a sign of what I've been missing?...

It started off with 2 Otters on my dog walk this morning, and progressed to 1 Barred Warbler, 1 Pied Flycatcher and a Willow Warbler on my first round of the patch! Not bad, but I wanted to see what the rest of South Yell had to offer. The following were found at various stages of my tour; 1 Common Rosefinch, 1 Merlin, another Pied Flycatcher and another 7 Willow Warblers too! Quite a decent haul for a mornings work...

Afternoon update; In Burravoe there seems to have been a clear out of migrants, with just a new Garden Warbler on show during my afternoon patch workout.

Common Rosefinch; (distant and very flighty!)

Pied Flycatcher; (taken at 100th/sec shutter and hand held too!)

Willow Warbler; (The only bird that wanted it's pic taken today!)