Thursday 20 July 2017

A quieter day than yesterday, although a fair few bits of interest were still to be found. On the ground, nothing was moving in number but a nice selection of odds and ends was to be found, including nine Willow Warblers, four Starlings and singles of Lesser Redpoll, Grasshopper Warbler, "Flava" Wagtail and Spotted Flycatcher, the latter the first of the autumn. We've seen some early passage of Flava type Wagtails this autumn, this being the fifth (including one positively identified as British Yellow Wagtail) so far.

Wader numbers were a bit down on yesterday, but included a Ringed Plover, alongside 14 Curlews, seven each of Redshanks and Common Sandpipers, four Dunlins, three Sanderlings and two Whimbrels. A couple of other sightings of note during the day were the Kestrel for its second day, six Black-headed Gulls offshore and a good count of 85 Puffins off the East Side, possibly our last high count of the year.

A bit of immigration was detected amongst insects, with 31 Red Admirals, four Painted Ladies and a single Hummingbird Hawk-moth. Of resident species, 159 Green-veined Whites, 97 Meadow Browns, 23 Graylings, four Small Coppers and two Peacocks were of note. Meanwhile the Obs Moth Trap was very quiet, apart from a season high of nine Garden Tigers.
One of many Graylings currently on the Mountain; © Ben Porter benporterwildlife.wordpress.com


No comments:

Post a Comment