Purple Rain . . . 

Internet access has finally been restored after several days of lightning, heavy rain, hurricane force winds & numerous power cuts! Yesterday (Saturday) saw the strongest winds I have ever been out in, force 12! over 100 mph . . . it was quite difficult to walk about & not get blown over, let alone pick up the bins or camera! Watching the sea & skies became fascinating, even more so when a large thunder & lightning storm rolled around the Island on Friday night - seeing Sheep Rock lit up by purple lightning was quite something, I had never seen lightning on the Island before. Today I enjoyed photographing more Purple Sandpipers on South Haven which were very approachable. There are still good numbers of Fieldfare & Redwing about & the weekend weather brought in good numbers of waders with small flocks of Dunlin & Sanderling in the south & a lone Bar-tailed Godwit. On Friday afternoon as the weather deteriorated I had a Corncrake at the roadside up near Furse which flushed up from a roadside ditch & landed in the heather briefly before catching the wind & disappearing in the storm force winds towards north light. Also today we noted one of the Grey Phalaropes heading south past Chalet, being battered by the wind & the other Grey Phalarope had left South Haven by the evening.

Gale Force Grebe & Phals . . .

Gale force 9 to storm force 10. Say no more . . . 

There was a small 'twitch' on today as a Little Grebe was discovered at Furse - an Island tick for many. A Great Northern Diver was also at Furse. There was a significant increase in Fieldfare numbers throughout the day with over 1000 seen! I returned to photograph the Grey Phalarope still feeding away in South Haven which had apparently been joined by the second bird again.  However as I watched the pair & began photographing them it became apparent that the second bird was a 'new' bird & not the second bird from earlier in the week (which was much more colourful & less advanced into it's winter plumage).

All Barred Out . . . 

Phil arrived back on the Isle today & we said our farewells to Martin, who, after drinking the Obs dry was returning to Glasgow at the end of his Autumn birding trip. After a days absence the second Grey Phalarope rejoined the other still feeding close to the shore in South Haven. A Barred Warbler & Common Redpoll (Islandica) were trapped in the Plantation by Deryk & Phil. A cracking male & a female Long-tailed Duck showed well in North Haven. In the afternoon a single panel net was erected on the beach & Phil trapped 3 Snow Bunting from the sizable flock still present in the Havens.

Safe Havens . . . 

Today was marked by very strong north westerly winds & rain. As such it was difficult to contemplate leaving the Havens. Luckily that's where the action was! I was able to get more shots of one remaining Grey Phalarope and an obliging Purple Sandpiper. Also noted 7 Black-headed Gull, 1 Kittiwake, 1 Razorbill, 1 Common Guillemot, 1 Chaffinch.

A Grey Day . . . . 

The day was dominated by heavy rain showers, grey skies and winds which increased throughout the afternoon. I spent the morning photographing the Tystie, still in North Haven. Heading south, I was lucky enough to trap a very smart Greenland Wheatear. That was a good start but shortly thereafter the heavens opened and I had to run for cover to the shop garage. 2 mugs of coffee & half a bag of chocolate raisins later, the skies cleared. After a brief sortie outside where I flushed a Waterrail from Meadow Burn, I learned that there were 2 Grey Phalaropes showing well in the Havens. I was soon enjoying crippling views of these stunning 1st year birds. Frantically feeding just a few feet off shore, the birds seemed oblivious to the assembled crowd. Other birds I noted today included  3 Wheatear, 1 Siskin, 1 Common Guillemot, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, several Brambling & noticeably larger numbers of Redwing & Skylark moving through.