Thursday 29 September 2016

The sun shone throughout most of the day today, only being blocked by the occasional cloud. The winds continued to predominantly blow from the south and west, but despite this, the day proved to be one of the best days for seawatching this autumn. It began slowly, with a trickle of Manx Shearwaters and Razorbill seen heading past the West Coast and North End, but improved exponentially throughout the day. By approximately 9 o’clock the first skuas were beginning to be seen and come 10, birds were moving through at a good rate. At log in the evening the numbers were combined and a grand total of two Sooty Shearwaters, 2180 Manx Shearwaters, 574 Gannets, three Common Scoters, eight Golden Plovers, 11 Pomarine Skuas (one adult still complete with a spoon!), 11 Arctic Skuas, six Great Skuas, one Mediterranean Gull, three Little Gulls, 1516 Kittiwakes, six Sandwich Terns, one Arctic Tern and 1371 Razorbills were recorded. The number of Manx Shearwater past were unprecedented when considering how late in the year it is. The previous highest number of Manx Shearwater recorded in a day in the last week of September were a mere 300 in 1991! However, even more impressive was a Little Stint, picked up flying past the North End in the mornings seawatch, which is the first record on the island since 2009.

Speaking of waders, the Narrows continued to hold a good selection of waders, in both Henllwyn and Solfach. Scrutiny of the shoreline produced nine Ringed Plovers, one Knot, three Purple Sandpipers, three Dunlins, one Bar-tailed Godwit, six Redshanks and 61 Turnstones.

The Melodious Warbler continued to inhabit Cristin Withy, giving brief but sometimes good views and was joined by a single Water Rail.

Elsewhere on the island eight Snipes, four Skylarks, 165 Swallows, four House Martins, one Grey Wagtail, four White Wagtails, two Blackcaps, nine Chiffchaffs, two Willow Warblers and 39 Goldcrests were seen either passing overhead or feeding on what the island has to offer.

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