Southerly gale gusting up to force 8 with rain up to early afternoon not pleasant. At least 1,302 Cormorant came in from the south heading for the Cork Sands fishing grounds is not a typical flightpath to arrive offshore but with deliberate culling & disturbance at the roost inland their behaviour is likely to be erratic. Offshore movements included southbound 28 Gannet, 24 Dunlin, 18 Knot, 17 Brent, 15 Grey Plover, 4 Common Scoter, 3 Curlew, 3 Teal, 2 Red-throated Diver, 2 Wigeon, Guillemot & Red-breasted Merganser with northbound 8 Gannet & 3 Red-throats although with up to 10 Gannet feeding offshore there may be some duplication. A Yellow-legged Gull was sat on the reserve with a couple of Great Black-backs during a particularly unpleasant bit of weather. On site observations limited but included a Blackcap plus what looked like the loitering Ring Ouzel coming out to play in the afternoon sunshine.
Yellow-line Quaker is a classic autumnal & early winter flyer that crops up here very occasionally.
Ringing: 1 Blackcap.