October 29th

Kilminning felt quite wintery today. There are barely any goldcrests and no sign of the long-tailed tits, with just the occasional redwing and mistle thrush that might be a migrant. There was one tree sparrow flying around chipping plaintively in search of some pals: the large dispersing flocks seem to have finally gone on their way. I wonder if any were brave enough to cross the North Sea. There were bullfinches at both the top and bottom of Kilminning. At this time of year we sometimes get northern bullfinches turning up, potentially from as far away as Russia. They are larger and have a deeper toy trumpet call. No sign of this in the buffinches today but it does seem like they might be possible migrants. They are not usually resident at Kilminning, although I might expect these birds to stay for the winter.

Male bullfinch (JA)