At first things were going pretty slow but it picked up once I got out of the wind and into the woods.
The shorebird cell held the usual suspects:
Barnacle Geese ~80
Eurasian Wigeon ~2000
Common Goldeneye -14 - just offshore and a new DK bird for me
Great Egret -1
Golden Plovers ~500
Bar-tailed Godwit 2
Little Stint 2 - getting a bit late for them I think
and many more!
Lapwings were in abundance:
Anyway, things were going a little slow out there so I headed for the woods to search out some migrant flocks. I had Goldcrest on my mind - it's high time for them now and about time I see one!
It wasn't so difficult. My second flock of passerines was hanging around some evergreen trees which made me thing Willow Tit. Sure enough I found one - another new DK bird.
And then the Goldcrests appeared. At least 3 of them but probably many more flitting about under cover. Neat birds - very similar to Golden-crowned Kinglets in North America.
After an unsuccessful search for a Tengalm's Owl I caught the winds and headed back North. I stopped when I saw what looked like good candidates for White-winged Crossbills - but I got distracted by a flock of actively migrating thrushes. They were flying from tree to tree keeping an eye out for predators which allowed me some decent looks with the scope.
It was a mixed flock of Redwings and Mistle Thrush! 2 new lifers bringing me dangerously close to 100 new species since coming to Europe!
Shortly after that the Northern Shrike was in the same spot as Sunday:
Ended the day with 55 species, 2 down from Sunday! But 5 new birds for DK (inc. 3 lifers) vs. 'only' 4 new DK birds on Sunday.
