Saturday 15 October 2011

Sunrise over Barns Ness Lighthouse

Headed out to the east coast before dawn arriving just in time to see this fantastic view of the sunrise over Barns Ness Lighthouse.

As I was travelling east along the A1, I had a good view of the cement factory 'windsock'. Sadly the plume was heading rapidly out to sea rather than in the other direction. Of course, an even better sign for grounded migrants is the plume heading westwards and also rendered invisible by low cloud and light rain...

Birdwise, I was pleased to stumble into another (or the same) Short-eared Owl a little bit further NW along the coast from yesterday's sighting. Today's bird rose up from rough grass and then gained height over the sea before drifting inland to allow the mobbing gulls to be replaced by corvids (fuzzy pic below...).


More exciting was a brief sparring encounter with a Peregrine. The latter then buzzed a curlew that was feeding on the shore before reappearing close by for a rapid flypast.




Migrants were few and far apart with a few small skeins of Pink-footed Geese, a total of 6 Lapland Buntings, 3 Redpoll sp., 5 Blackcap and a probable Yellow-browed Warbler which allowed a few silent glimpses as it flitted in the canopy. Fingers crossed that the wind heads east sometime soon...

No comments: