Wednesday 2 October 2019

2nd October 2019 Unst N4 Overcast

Another cold windy day with some heavy showers that felt very wintry at times making for difficult birding conditions. A male Redstart was present in our garden and Skaw had held onto the Whinchat and Lesser Whitethroat but 2 Snow Buntings was all that I saw whilst walking the headland. Robbie found a Little Auk sat on the sea off Lund beach but unfortunately it had come ashore and promptly died shortly before my arrival! A Slavonian Grebe was alive and diving offshore and Ray's Scaup was seen among the Tufted Ducks on Easter Loch. It certainly felt cold enough for a good number of Great Black-backed Gulls, the first flush of argentatus Herring Gulls and my first Glaucous Gull of the Autumn loafing at Dam Loch. A quick look at a couple of sites at Baltasound added 2 Redstarts, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Yellow-browed Warbler.

Male Common Redstart in our garden

freshly dead Little Auk at Lund

Scaup among Tufted Duck on Easter Loch


Glaucous Gull at Dam Loch