Thursday 12 September 2013

There was a very reasonable arrival of migrants during the night, a few of which were attracted to the Lighthouse in the misty conditions. The arrival was, once again, predominantly made up of phylloscopus warblers, which moved rapidly through the island from South to North and West to East (perhaps an indication of Irish birds?). A total of at least 600 phylloscs was reached by the evening.

Unfortunately, the potentially rarest bird of the day had to go down as 'the one that got away': a small Teal-sized duck with prominent white patches on its forewings was seen flying away over the wetlands in the afternoon. Further searches around Solfach and the rest of the lowlands did not yield anything.

An excellent total of 354 Chiffchaffs and 507 Willow Warblers was recorded by the end of the day, over 80 of which were trapped at Cristin. Other warblers and flycatchers amongst these birds included nine Grasshopper Warblers on the South End, 15 Sedge Warblers, 24 Common Whitethroats, seven Blackcaps, nine Goldcrests and 20 Spotted Flycatchers.

Other passerine-migrants that were present on the island during the day amounted to 132 Meadow Pipits, four Grey Wagtails, 23 Pied Wagtails, 25 White Wagtails, 17 Wheatears and 12 Blackbirds.

 Willow Warbler
Feathered Ranunculus

1 comment:

  1. HI Ben you certainly had great numbers of birds and I loved the photo of the moth

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