The first winter visitors from across the North Sea have been arriving. They are a little early, perhaps helped on the way by recent winds from the northeast. These winds have also brought in some rarities, including a Cretzschmar's bunting, a plump bird with a bluish head and a ruddy stomach, from the Balkans, and a brown flycatcher, a silvery little bird from Siberia, both discovered in the Northern Isles of Scotland.

The regular winter visitors have included two thrushes — the redwing and the fieldfare — and some bramblings. Bramblings often feed here on beech mast with chaffinch flocks. From the front the males can be distinguished by their orange apron, quite unlike the complete pink underside of the male chaffinch, while from the back, when they fly, their white rump picks them out. Fieldfares are like mistle thrushes with a bluish head and a grey rump, redwings are like song thrushes with a bright red patch under their wings, and a pale stripe above their eyes.