Friday 19 April 2013

Undoubtedly the warmest day of the year saw far saw calm winds presiding throughout most of the day, and thus encouraging the year's first decent movement of hirundines and finches. Over 230 Swallows passed through during the day, along with 88 Sand Martins and 25 House Martins.
The year's first Yellow Wagtail and Common Sandpiper were recorded, whilst other noteworthy species included two Hooded Crows, a Short-eared Owl near Plas, a single Sedge Warbler in Plas Withy, two Grasshopper Warblers in the wetlands, a Common Redstart on Pen Cristin and a Merlin over the Narrows.
Warbler numbers remained fairly low, with around 88 Willow Warblers, 17 Blackcaps and 16 Chiffchaffs seen. Finch passage in the morning amounted to a Lesser Redpoll, a Greenfinch, 23 Goldfinches and three Siskins. Other totals of common passerine-migrants included 59 Wheatears and 13 White Wagtails

 This rather stunning male flavissima Yellow Wagtail spent the day feeding on the Narrows amongst the sheep
 This male Gannet was first seen in Solfach in the morning, and was seen to be very approachable. The bird was captured, taken to Cristin to be examined and then was ringed. There did not appear to be any physical damage to the bird, although something was not quite right! The bird was released and spent the rest of the day in Solfach
Barn Swallows (top), Sand Martins and House Martins (bottom) made up the bulk of visible migration today
The first two Green-veined White butterflies of the year were seen today, although it has been very poor for other species of lepidoptera

No comments:

Post a Comment