18th November

Most of the day's excitement took place in the very small hours of the morning when, during a nocturnal ringing excursion in search of waders and geese, the long-staying and increasingly elusive Baird's Sandpiper made its first appearance for five days in the ringers' torch beams. It was duly trapped, becoming only the third of its kind to be ringed in Britain. The previous two were also caught at bird observatories: Fair Isle in 1991 and Bardsey in 2004.

Although the biometrics fell mostly in the overlap zone, the Baird's Sandpiper was towards the small end of the scale and probably a female.

There was almost nothing new to report from a very quiet day's migrant census, but notable species still present on the island included at least 22 Tundra Bean Geese, 6 Pink-footed Geese, 26 European White-fronted Geese, 1 Barnacle Goose, 3 Scaups, 1 Goosander, 2 Little Gulls and 1 Woodpigeon. The best of the passerines were a Rook, a Dunnock, 2 Chaffinches and a Brambling. All three Long-eared Owls were caught at Holland House: 2 were new birds, the other was ringed here earlier in the week.