25th April

The good run of rare birds continued in the morning with a female Subalpine Warbler found, as is so often the case with secretive Sylvia warblers, hanging in a mist net. Biometrics were taken in the hope of assigning it to subspecies, and it seems to have been of the western race S.c.cantillans although the measurements were not 100 percent conclusive.

The White-tailed Eagle was still present in the morning, but departed northwards and out to sea in the afternoon. The year's first Whitethroat made its appearance just one day later than the earliest ever arrival, and the other warblers present were a Grasshopper Warbler, 3 Blackcaps, 7 Chiffchaffs and 4 Willow Warblers. The Whinchat was seen again near Ancum Loch, and other small migrants included 9 Sand Martins, 12 Swallows, 2 White Wagtails, 2 Dunnocks, a Robin, 139 Wheatears, a Mistle Thrush, the same Pied Flycatcher, 2 Chaffinches, a Redpoll and 7 Lapland Buntings. There was a lot of corvid activity throughout the day and, although it was not easy to be sure how many birds were involved, minimum counts came to 13 Rooks, 30 Carrion Crows and 2 Carrion x Hooded Crow hybrids. As well as the eagle, raptors were represented by 3 Sparrowhawks, 1 Kestrel, 3 Merlins and a Peregrine.

Subalpine Warbler

Whinchat