Despite the conditions we looked for Otters on two occasions and scored on both days. One was fishing in raging seas in the South East of the island and the other was disturbed by a fisherman checking his lobster pots, so no film was obtained of either.

The highlights have been filming seventeen Snow Buntings feeding on seeds on a remote beach and finding five Crossbills in a pine plantation feeding on Spruce cones.

A surprise has been finding a Red Admiral butterfly sunning itself during one of the brief sunny spells.

At last Long Tailed Tits have turned up in the garden with eleven feeding together on the seventeenth at dusk.

Still no Fieldfare but on the sixteenth three parties of Redwings (30, 33 and 40) flew over the Golf Course in a South West direction. The Siskin flock has now increased to thirty five, they were feeding on the Birches.

The rabbit problem on the Golf Course seems to have been solved with a Buzzard eating one on one of the fairways.

One night this week the young Tawny Owl was giving some very hungry calls from the trees in the garden and it may well be that the adults have now abandoned it. It will be a steep learning curve for it from now on

The Green Woodpecker has re appeared on the golf course and has been seen on two consecutive days. Two Grey Wagtails have been regular along the stream and the Long Tailed Tit flock peaked at fourteen.

Skylarks are still moving South in good numbers but no Fieldfares have yet arrived and the Redwings seem to have moved on.

On the third October the first of six Redwings of Autumn were feeding on the Hawthorn berries along the canal – four days later than last year’s early record.

A Buzzard was hunting on the Golf Course and there are still Goldcrests present and Jays are everywhere with the good Acorn crop. Several parties of Long Tail Tits are around and a Speckled Wood butterfly was seen on the third October.

Greenfinches continue to increase in the garden with a peak of twenty four on the fifth October.

What a spectacular week of Autumn weather with sunshine, no wind and no rain!

Last weekend we had our Ruby wedding and a funeral to attend and covered more than six hundred miles on motorways. However, it did enable us to prove that the Buzzard is the commonest raptor in Britain with sightings of one Sparrowhawk, five Kestrels and nine Buzzards.

On the local streams two Grey Wagtails have been feeding all week.

The bracken on the Golf Course produced not one but two new birds on the 27th September when two juvenile Whinchats were present and a Willow Warbler all catching insects in the early morning sunshine.

Rain, rain and more rain can this Summer get any worse?

A week of dry weather has been most welcome although sunlight has been at a premium

A Speckled Wood butterfly has been seen plus Peacock and Red Admiral but a small consolation for what has been another appalling butterfly Summer

I have been informed by a very reliable local farmer that in August a Corncrake called on two different days in meadows by his farm. This is an amazing record as Corncrake have not bred at that farm for nearly fifty years! Was it a breeding bird or passage migrant? It will be interesting to see whether it returns next year.

On some Rowan berries on the Golf Course there were thirty two Mistle Thrushes – the largest number I have ever seen together locally.