Saturday 2 June 2012

The third Firecrest of the spring was discovered in the Plantation in the morning, which was later trapped and ringed in Nant wIthy. The second scarcity of the day came in the form of a Red Kite that circled the mountain several times, before pitching down on Pencristin, and then finally heading Northwards. This is the first record since the 26th of July 2012, and is the 17th record for the island. Little else of note was on the island, although 31 Swifts over the mountain was the highest count of the year, and six Blackcaps, six Chiffchaffs, a Goldcrest and nine Spotted Flycatchers were scattered throughout.

 In 1989, the joint Nature Conservation Committee made the decision to reintroduce Red Kites into the UK. Since then, the RSPB, English Nature and other partners have been working on a programme to re-introduce the kites to many different sites across Britain- there are now 1200 pairs of kites in the UK, representing around 5% of the world population. Wing tags are attached to all red kites released into the UK; the left wing tag colour refers to the release area while the right wing tag colour refers to the year of release. 

Goldfinch
This lovely Small Elephant Hawk-moth was taken from the Cristin trap in the morning, whilst the first Poplar Hawk-moth and Middle-barred Minor of the year were trapped at Nant. There have been 13 records of this brightly-coloured moth on the island-all since 2007- suggesting recent colonisation. 

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