I came across this 1st winter White Bridled Finch this afternoon at Hookers Point.

Today at Burnside I came across this very odd plumaged Ruddy Headed Goose, I am not sure wether it is just worn feathers or it is a very pale bird.

I got a call today at work to tell me that a young Albatross was down on the front road, I went down to make sure that it was not injured. When I got there the fledgling Black Browed Albatross was quite close to the waters edge and seemed in good shape with no sign of any injuries.

This morning I got a call from Jeremy Poncet the head garden at Government House telling me that there was a wren in the vegetable garden that he did not think was a Grass Wren or Cobb’s Wren. I went for a look at lunchtime but it had started to rain so it took a while before I heard it calling in amongst some cabbages. The first thing I noted was the call it did not sound like Cobb’s Wren or Grass Wren. After about 5 minutes I got a very brief view of it flying away from me. I saw that it had a red/chestnut tail and lower back so thought it must be a Cobb’s Wren. After a few minutes it came out onto the top of a cabbage plant and I got my first good look at it.

One thing that immediately struck me was the very pale throat and breast which you do not get on a Cobb’s Wren. The bill was also smaller than what you get on a Cobb’s Wren. The more I watched and heard it call the more I was starting to think that it was a Southern House Wren Troglodytes musculus. I have now listened to recording of House Wren calls on the internet and it sound the same as this bird.

I have emailed several South American birders for their thoughts on the bird. I have so far received four replies from Alvaro Jaramillo, James Lowen, Mark Pearman & Ricardo Matus that all confirm my thoughts that this bird if a Southern House Wren a new species for the Falkland Islands. Massive thanks to Jeremy & Sonia for the call about the bird and to Alvaro, James, Mark & Ricardo for their help & input into the ID.

While in Berkeley Sound yesterday afternoon we came across a small group of South American Fur Seals playing around one of the large reefer vessel.

I finally saw my first Cattle Egret of the year today down in one of the potatoe fields at the market garden. There have only been a few records so far this year.

Also seen at Saladero farm today were a pair of Southern Caracara. One of the birds had one incredibly long claw.

There are now 4 Barn Owls viewable at Goose Green, 3 are roosting in the shearing shed and another individual in the large tractor shed.

There has been a male Upland Goose with bright yellow legs at Saladero farm for the last few weeks. Male Upland Geese should have black legs with only the female having bright yellow legs. I went and saw it this afternoon in the company of a female.

This afternoon I went on a pelagic with visiting freelance writer and very keen birder Rachel Dickinson. We went out about 10 miles off Cape Pembroke lighthouse, I had a couple of buckets of chopped up oily fish chum to attract seabirds to the launch. It did not take long for Black Browed Albatross to arrive and start feeding on the chum.

A few Great Shearwaters & White Chinned Petrels were soon following the launch and an Antarctic Fulmar made a quite visit before disappearing off.

Finally the star bird of the evening in the form of a Southern Royal Albatross made an appearance and hung around for about 20 minutes.

Many thanks to Lee Clement & Paul Anderson for an excellent trip.