Tuesday 25 September 2018

Birding the land has proved to be a bit of a struggle recently, with high winds and a general lack of migrant numbers not doing any favours for our morale. Still, rarely a day goes by without a wildlife highlight, and today's came from the 811 Swallows that passed over the island in the morning. All of them seem to head north at this time of year - we presume that most of them have reached us from Ireland and are hugging the coast northwards towards the Llyn Peninsula before moving south again down Cardigan Bay. Elsewhere,11 Purple Sandpipers were new in as was a Sand Martin.

Other birds logged today included five Manx Shearwaters, 85 Gannets, three Cormorants, seven Common Scoters, a Buzzard, three Kestrels, a Merlin, four Ringed Plovers, four Golden Plovers, 11 Purple Sandpipers, a Dunlin, a Bar-tailed Godwit, two Whimbrels, 22 Curlews, 28 Turnstones, 36 Black-headed Gulls, two Common Gulls, six Common Terns, 170 Razorbills, a Skylark, a Sand Martin, 811 Swallows, five Grey Wagtails, three White Wagtails, 19 alba Wagtails, seven Robins, 12 Stonechats, four Wheatears, two Song Thrushes, three Blackcaps, 11 Chiffchaffs, nine Goldcrests, a Chaffinch, 40 Goldfinches and 46 Linnets.

The juvenile Merlin has been a putting on a super show up on the mountain and down on the South End. At times it has even been observed scurrying across the ground in pursuit of invertebrates!

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