Monday 3 September 2018

Today’s strong Northerly gusts produced the goods out to sea and the hint of easterlies in the air saw a good arrival of both common and uncommon migrants.

Sea passage consisted of five Sooty Shearwaters, 145 Gannets, five Wigeons, two Teals, one Pomarine Skua, three Arctic Skuas, four Great Skuas, 233 Kittiwakes, 30 Sandwich Terns and six Arctic Terns. A bonus was the 48th record of Pintail for the island, an increasingly more common migrant duck past the island.

On the land there was also a good selection to choose from. Two Short-eared Owls were seen around the Wetlands of the island, giving good views at times. Some notable vismig was also logged consisting primarily of today’s 325 Swallows, but four House Martins, one Tree Pipit, three ‘Flava’ Wagtails, two Grey Wagtails, seven White Wagtails and 12 Siskins were also seen. On the land the efforts of the observatory staff turned up three Whinchats, two Grasshopper Warblers, two Reed Warblers, three Whitethroats, three Blackcaps, 16 Chiffchaffs, 49 Willow Warblers, an impressive 39 Spotted Flycatchers and three Pied Flycatchers! A good arrival of flycatchers on the island, and one of the larger autumn counts of Spotted Flycatchers since the turn of the century.

Short-eared Owl distantly flying across the Narrows

Spotted Flycatcher one of 39 seen today!

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