The weather in April was generally pretty foul, with strong and cold northerly winds dominating. Many spring migrants were late arriving, but on the plus side many Arctic breeders were held up by the winds. This resulted in record counts of two species in particular. On the 29th April there were a phenomenal 11,520 Golden Plovers on the island, mostly in dapper breeding plumage, with one flock of over 7,000 on The Reef providing a particulalry spectacular sight. Black-tailed Godwits pass through in good numbers each spring. These are the brick-red islandica sub-species and look simply stunning in their breeding finery. This year the numbers were exceptional. John Bowler's count on 29th of 1,520 shattered all previous records. I counted over 850 on the 30th in West Tiree. Whimbrel too passed through in higher than usual numbers.
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| Golden Plovers |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Black-tailed Godwits |
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Black-tailed Godwits
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