Thursday 6 May 2010


After an inauspicious weather forecast for the day it was pleasantly surprising to find that a reasonable fall of migrants had taken place, with the South End and the withies bristling with newly-arrived warblers. Sedge Warblers in particular had appeared en masse; the final count coming to 126 birds, including one bearing a French ring. Whitethroats too reached their highest numbers so far this year: 33 were in the South End gorse, and a further 29 were scattered around the rest of the island. Other warblers included 22 Blackcaps, nine Grasshopper Warblers, two Garden Warblers, a Lesser Whitethroat, eight Chiffchaffs and 80 Willow Warblers. Eight Spotted Flycatchers, two Whinchats, a smart male Redstart and a Tree Pipit were also logged, and 127 Wheatears were counted around the island. A slow procession of hirundines making their way through comprised 129 Swallows, 11 Sand martins and nine House Martins, as well as five Swifts; finch passage included 19 Goldfinches, nine Redpolls and a pair of Siskins; and 18 White Wagtails remained on Solfach. Two Snipe, 13 Whimbrels, six Dunlins, a Common Sandpiper and the Bar-tailed Godwit were seen, but the best wader of the day was a Golden Plover in full summer plumage that arrived in the afternoon.


A Stunning Golden Plover was seen on the south end (c) Judith Read





Willow warblers (middle) and Blackcaps (bottom) were seen in good numbers today. A few Garden warblers (top) were also seen. (c) Ben Porter


Goldfinch (c) Ben Porter

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