Last ditch autumnal efforts

Last day of Oct - last day of SE winds for the foreseeable and I was reduced to floundering in Old Spoons's wake as he turned up both Lesser Whitethroat & Firecrest in Dirk. Sadly his Bramble finch had left by the time I got there but I managed to turn the tide with a fine Shoveler on the lake afterwards - a three year tick day rounding off a fairly dismal October on patch!

twitching the nighthawk

Me & Ross Geller took a punt that the Common Nighthawk up in Antrim would remain for another day on Friday - it certainly did!

A common nighthawk yesterday

The fly-bys along the river at dusk were incredible, but sadly my recording technology was not up to the task of capturing any footage - brilliant bird!

Did manage a flyover lapland bunting on patch early doors on Friday, plus merlin today moves me over the near-mythical 80% barrier.....

Autumn Fillers

Looks like Ol' Snowy will be staying at Galley for another year, well done to Seppy for a cracking find.

As for Longhaven, there have been no major (or any) surprises so far this autumn, with just the usual autumn fillers pushing up the yearly total.

Recent birds are as expected YBW, Brambling, Jack Snipe, SEO, Whinchat, Redwing and Siskin.  I should really do some seawatching, which could easily get me another 5 species or so.  But until then my total is on 116 species (my highest ever) and a ridiculous 109.43%

Happy days

Bushveld

REV in Dirk

Been easing back into Galley, adjusting to the severe changes in vegetation levels after Shetland. After a rainy morning, a pre-school pick-up wander down Dirk last monday was proving very fruitless, when all of a sudden, as if by magic, a red-eyed vireo appeared in the tree that I was scanning. Almost as quickly, it vanished again, and I was left wondering if I'd imagined the whole thing.

Luckily, after a few heart-stopping minutes, I managed to relocate it in the adjacent tree, and it did the decent thing, and performed in full view for a few seconds, before heading off again, towards the big clump of sycamores at the bottom of Dirk. I had to go and collect the wean from school, but on returning to the scene of the crime, complete with camera, I drew a total blank. It was like it had never happened - Dirk was back to normal again! After an hour, I could take no more, and headed home to celebrate!

So I never did get a photo, but here's a blurred and on the huh shot that Ross Geller took of the Mizen bird the previous day instead...

A red-eyed vireo yesterday by Ross Geller

As for Dirk, well, who knows what could be in there - if only there was a bit more cover to actually hold stuff!

Dirk Bay, yesterday