Sunday 9 April 2017

A clear and beautiful morning facilitated excellent viz-mig early in the day, especially moving south off the South End. However, on the ground there seemed to have been a clear out of many migrants.

The overhead passage consisted mostly of Linnets and Meadow Pipits, in total 320 and 288 of each were logged today. 38 Goldfinches were also noted, as were 30 Swallows. Meanwhile, a good selection of other species in lower numbers included seven alba Wagtails, seven Sand Martin,, six Lesser Redpolls, four Tree Pipits, four Siskins and singles of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Rook.

In the bushes, there were still 42 Willow Warblers and 33 Chiffchaffs, but just nine Goldcrests and four Chiffchaffs. A single Grasshopper Warbler reeled from the mountainside above the obs, with scarcer species including three Song Thrushes scattered about, and two Jackdaws at Nant. 21 Wheatears and 8 White Wagtails were scattered around the coast, most of the latter on Solfach.

Offshore a Common Gull and a Black-headed Gull moved south, with two of the latter also in Solfach. 11 Puffins were seen in total, alongside 22 Manx Shearwaters. Waders were well represented today, with 146 Oystercatcher, 20 Purple Sandpiper, 21 Turnstone and four Snipe in addition to the Golden Plover and Lapwing overhead. However, the rarest birds of the day were undoubtedly three Canada Geese that did several circuits of the island early in the morning, to 2015 there had been just 34 records!

The moth trap attracted our first Angle Shades and Red-green Carpet of the year, among a modest five individuals of five species trapped.

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