by Greg Lee
I quite enjoy waking up in the morning to the sound of the wild winds battering the outside, (guaranteed I’m not obliged to go outside) and this morning was no exception with the census cancelled as there was no likely purpose to conducting a census when not only are the birds being blown backwards, but also, you are trying not be blown backwards! So that really was the flavour of the day with a trip down to the Tavern, where the fireplace was now roaring, to do some ringing data-entry and also check the internet and make sure there wasn’t some super influx event of Nearctic rarities being uncovered in the eye of the storm in Ireland or the South-west. There wasn’t. Realising I couldn’t go the whole day inside, I did have a nose in Millcombe, but it was pretty quiet with Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs being picked up in the bushes. I did join Tim Jones looking offshore for a short while, with a couple of Manx Shearwaters and Gannets moving past, but hardly the seawatch interest that merited a full committal to a session. I think it has easy to determine that nothing arrived today with the winds, meaning that the avifauna on the island is all what has been unfortunate to get stuck here for the time being including the Eastern Lesser Whitethroat and two Snow Buntings. Tomorrow is the time for Storm Boelo, which, as well as being just as strong, is also much more wet.