Monday 1 January 2018

A variety of wildfowl can be hard to come by on the island, if an interesting species does occur generally it passes by the island within a matter of minutes with few observers, with that in mind the drake Gadwall had made it into the new year, still residing on the island since it first appeared on the 24th of November, last year! Generally it pairs up with the small flock of resident Mallards, of which two were seen, today however it was alone sheltering in Henllewyn, one of the bays. A male and female Shelduck were the only other ducks recorded.

Waders were noted in reasonable species and numbers around the Narrows, these included 53 Oystercatchers, four Purple Sandpipers, a Whimbrel, 14 Redshanks and 25 Turnstones. Meanwhile 13 Rock Pipits and 13 Choughs fed close by and 71 Grey Seals were hauled out.

Herring Gulls dotted open fields in good numbers amounting to 124 individuals, five Greater Black-backed Gulls and five Kittiwakes were other species seen. A Gannet drifted by the island off the West Coast and inland very little else was notable with thrush numbers dropping down to five Blackbirds and two Song Thrushes compared to the tens seen towards the end of the 2017 season.


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