Went out for a quick walk round my patch at noon when my girls were having their midday nap. Colder than I thought, snow showers and soon regretted not wearing my balaclava. The usual suspects in the garden, i.e. Redwing, Redpoll, Blackbird, Starling, with the inevitable Snow Bunting and Raven overhead.
Down by the sea, rafts of Eider, with Long-tailed Duck, Scaup, Mallard, Red-breasted Merganser, Wigeon, several adult Iceland Gulls, one Glaucous Gull, two Herring Gulls and three Great Black-backed Gulls. A Great Northern Diver flew over. Just as I was going to turn round, I saw a Gyr Falcon shaped rock by the footpath ahead, which materialised into a young Gyr Falcon when I lifted my bins. I lay down in the snow, out of the wind and watched it from about 50 metres away for 2 minutes before it flew off.
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