Thursday 23 September 2010

An elusive Melodious Warbler was seen briefly in the back garden of the observatory, and eventually found its way into the Heligoland trap. This is at least the fifth Melodious Warbler of the autumn so far. Seven Lapland Buntings were dotted around the island, the Common Rosefinch remained at Nant and four Crossbills arrived at the Plantation late in the morning. 16 Black Terns were the highlight of sea passage, but a variety of other species included a Mediterranean Gull, a Little Gull, three Common Gulls, 80 Black-headed Gulls, 70 distant ‘Commic’ Terns, 50 Sandwich Terns, four Arctic Skuas and two Great Skuas. Counts of migrant landbirds came to 245 Meadow Pipits, one Tree Pipit, two Skylarks, 17 House Martins, a Yellow Wagtail, seven Grey Wagtails, 12 Wheatears, two Grasshopper Warblers, one Reed Warbler, one Whitethroat, three Blackcaps, ten Chiffchaffs, three Willow Warblers, eight Goldcrests, four Spotted Flycatchers, 34 Chaffinches and a Siskin. A Knot was the only notable wader, and raptors included a Merlin seen arriving from over the sea, three Sparrowhawks, three Kestrels and a Buzzard.

It has been a bit windy for butterfly-watching lately, but a Speckled Wood, a scarce visitor to Bardsey, was discovered today near the plantation.


Melodious Warbler (c) Steve Stansfield

Hummingbird Hawkmoth (c) Steve Stansfield


Blackcap. (c) Ben Porter
A Speckled Wood was also seen near the plantation. (c) Ben Porter

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