A beach full of buntings

Another windy day today so unfortunately no ringing planned. Instead, James and I went out to observe with Rolf for a few hours. James spotted a Bittern (Rørdrum) which was a bit of a surprise; they are not seen here much over the autumn/winter months and this was only the second bird seen this autumn.

After leaving Rolf, we met up with Helga and Kristian and did a tour with them along the beach to the tip and back to the observatory via the tractor track. The sun was shining, the birds were very obliging and we managed to tick off a few new species for Helga and Kristian during our walk. First stop was for Red Breasted Merganser (Toppet Skallesluger) and Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå Ryle) on the beach and we also spotted our old friend the Knot (Islandsk Ryle) from last night! It was great to watch it feeding on the beach, whilst sporting a new and dainty little silver anklet on its right leg!

James, Helga and Kristian looking at the ringed Knot (Islandsk Ryle) on the beach outside the lighthouse.

Up at the tip, we had a flock of 38 Snow Bunting (Snespurv) which was wonderful as Helga and Kristian had not seen them since being here and the birds came incredibly close to us. We saw a  total of 14 species were seen on our walk.

In the afternoon, James and I had an interview with Simon to talk about our experiences at the observatory and after a feast of tuna pasta and apple crumble, followed a couple of rounds of Shuffleball with Helga and Kristian, it was time for an early night before our last day tomorrow.

People: Sarah Bedford, James Butcher, Rolf Christensen, Simon S. Christiansen and Helga & Kristian Rudolf