After one of the winter’s first frosts, temperatures remained low in strengthening south-westerly winds and increasingly overcast skies. Seawatching highlights included 130 Red-throated Divers, single Great Northern Divers flying north and south, a Manx Shearwater, one Shelduck, 15 Common Scoter, a Goosander, two Little Gulls and seven Little Auks all flying south. The Outer Head also hosted 38 Purple Sandpipers.
Two Whooper Swans near North Marsh later flew south, five Pink-footed Geese did the same, with the lone bird still with the Greylags at North Marsh and the drake Pintail also remained. A Woodcock, 19 Snipe and one Jack Snipe were located, whilst a Little Owl calling east of the village represented a good record of an increasingly scarce former breeding species.
The two Richard’s Pipits continued to show well between North Landing and North Marsh; a Stonechat was in the same area with a pair also near the Lighthouse. Additional passerine records included two Mistle Thrushes, one Fieldfare, 21 Siskins (six Oceanview, 15 South Landing), a Lesser Redpoll, 60 Tree Sparrows and 30 Yellowhammers.
West of the Dykes, two Eurasian White-fronted Geese immediately west of Buckton Hall were a welcome surprise, with 120 Lapwing and a Common Buzzard also there.

White-fronted Geese, Buckton, by Tony Dixon

Richard’s Pipit, twixt North Landing and North Marsh, by Dave Aitken