Wow. So I have just about composed myself after that day, that bird, that experience. I have run through the memories time and time again. They will stay with me forever. A bird that is so enigmatic, seen in such a unique way, being one of maybe 30 people who have ever held a White's Thrush in the UK, and hearing the bird emit its Peregrine like alarm call too, a sound that has maybe never been heard. Who Knows. I am just bowled over.
Song Thrush resting on the shoreline, viva la Farnes..
Anyway life goes one, birds keep arriving and the lingering feeling of 'will I ever do better' will fade. The day after Monday 'White's Day' was awesome. Still on a high the dawn brought torrential rain and 60mph+ winds meaning birding was hard, and no surprise the White's had moved on, or more likely, succumbed to the harsh conditions on top of its 2,000-3,000 mile journey. However the wind dropped for an hour or so mid-morning and my dreams came true. One of the main reasons I wanted to work on the Farnes (besides the breeding birds) was to witness a 'fall' where birds do just that, fall from the sky. Between 9 and 10am hundreds of bird arrived including 600+ Song Thrush, 30 Redstart, 50 Robin, the first Redwing this autumn, Tree Pipits, Meadow Pipits, Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warblers, Reed Warbler, 40 Brambling, Siskins, Reed Bunting etc etc with birds literally everywhere on our 16 acres of heaven. Highlights include Little Stint, Snow Bunting and Turtle Dove. These bird hadn't seen land since Scandanavia, and here they were alive and well, feeding in the most unlikely of places, a sparsely vegetated island in the North Sea. And I was there. The Pictures tell a tale:
Turtle Dove with a maritime background. Still remember how excited I was hearing them purring as a lad.
4 of the 9 feeding party of Redstarts.
An initially skulky Reed Warbler in the low morning light had me questioning myself.
Look at this little cracker! It doesn't have to from Siberia to be mega, but it helps!
A lovely Snow Bunting brought a distinctly autumnal feel to the latter end of our fall.
Pied Fly a la Farnes
Having a 'chat' haha, Redstart and Wheater (members of the chat amalgamation).
Redstart looking bonny.
Chiffchaff in the hand...brings back memories..
Redstart watching our first boats in 3 days arrive.
Today brought the first decent Barnacle Goose movement with 251 WSW
Garden Warbler on show after being ringed, an 'in the hand tick' of this plain but charming sylvia.
Right so it's all going westerly again so the birds will probably ease in terms of quality and quantity, but you never know! I'd say the mega comes after the fall but ours came before so time to sit back and enjoy birding for what it is...the birds.
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