Tuesday 27 October 2009


Following the night of pernoctation at the lighthouse, the first task was to ring and release the birds that had been caught there. These included a selection of thrushes, two Blackcaps, a Skylark and a Woodcock; the last of which attracted an admiring crowd. Then it was time to see what else was around, as lots of birds can be expected in the aftermath of an attraction. Predictably, thrushes were present in plenitude, with 120 Blackbirds, 43 Song Thrushes and 11 Fieldfares counted, along with lots of Redwings (although, surprisingly, most of the latter seemed already to have departed early in the morning). Big numbers of finches arrived at Nant, including 354 Greenfinches, 350 Chaffinches, 52 Siskins, 12 Bramblings and eight Goldfinches. A Richard’s Pipit flew over the plantation, two Lapland Buntings and three Reed Buntings were around the cereal fields, 17 Skylarks flew south and eight Black Redstarts suddenly appeared late in the morning. A late Tree Pipit was near Ty Bach, a Ring Ouzel was on the mountainside, a Grey Wagtail flew over, and 11 Blackcaps and a Garden Warbler were seen. A female Eider flew past the north hide, a Great Skua was seen off the South End, and five Mediterranean Gulls and two Little Gulls were with the flock of feeding Black-headed Gulls and Kittiwakes. 780 Starlings spent the day feeding along the west coast, and the two Great Spotted Woodpeckers, six Great Tits, Blue Tit, Firecrest, four Goldcrests and five Chiffchaffs remained.

Reed Bunting (c) Steve Stansfield

Black Redstart (c) Steve Stansfield

Woodcock above and middle (c) Richard Brown, bottom (c) Steve Stansfield

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