Tuesday 20 July 2010

A drop in the wind overnight combined with a dark and cloudy sky resulted in an unexpected fall of migrants, many of which had presumably been drawn towards the lighthouse during the night. The bushes on the South End were teaming with warblers, some of which filtered through to the rest of the island during the day. At least 60 Willow Warblers were counted, along with 25 Grasshopper Warblers and eight Sedge Warblers. A Whinchat was near the observatory and six Snipe in the lowlands were also likely to have been attracted to the beacon. The first Mediterranean Gull of the autumn was sat on the sea with 17 Black-headed Gulls and six Little Egrets, presumably the same flock from last week, flew north. A flock of around 40 Sand Martins appeared and joined the local Swallows hawking above the hay fields, nine Swifts passed through and a couple of Collared Doves and a Siskin were seen. Two Dunlins, three Common Sandpipers, 11 Redshanks, three Whimbrels, 52 Curlews and a Heron were on the coast and 13 Common Scoters flew past at sea. The first Risso’s Dolphins of the year (three adults and a calf) were seen off the South End.


Sedge warblers(top), Grasshopper warblers (middle) and Willow warblers (bottom) were seen in numbers all over the island today (c) Ben Porter

1 comment:

  1. I'm outraged I left a day before this.

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