Monday 18 May 2020

Today was the windiest it has been for some time, winds were sustained at about 22mph all day, gusting 30mph. However, the wind was coming from the South-West, so thankfully, it wasn't as chilly as it could have been.

the late afternoon became very misty, here it is descending from the Mountain


George left the Obs early to head down to the North Hide in the hope of the winds producing some good sea passage. The distinctive shape of Gannets could be seen heading down the coast with the naked eye on the walk down, so it seemed promising! Birds were streaming through when he arrived and they continued to do so for the next few hours. The highlights were probably three Great Northern Divers which headed North, two of which were together, and the other was on its own, and another highlight being a Common Scoter, the first of the year. No Skuas or Terns showed up, surprisingly, although there was definitely enough to keep things interesting with 2778 Manx Shearwaters, 206 Gannets, 226 Kittiwakes, 154 Puffins and 31 Fulmars all passing by too. Some passerines were on the move again too, 107 House Martins and 62 Swallows were also noted, with most heading down the Coastline, but some way out at sea, all heading South. Two Risso's Dolphins were also a nice treat, and the first of the year!

one of many Manx Shearwaters that passed the North End today

three Gannets from today

Sam was busy carrying on with his Manx Shearwater Census and the area he counted today also showed an increase in burrow numbers from when the area was last counted in 2016. The total number of burrows he counted today came to 277 and when those walls were last counted, there were only 178; this is an increase of 55% across this small section, quite a staggering amount. Overall, with the holes that have been counted so far, the increase in total number of holes stands at 54% and the increase in occupancy stands at 60%, both are incredibly high.

George started his first round of Manx Shearwater Productivity Burrow checks in the late afternoon and of the fourteen burrows on the South End which are monitored, all but two of them contained an adult and an egg. With the predation of eggs seeming to be higher than usual so far this year, it was encouraging to see all off these adults still having eggs - the other two burrows without eggs appeared to not be occupied at all this year.

a picture of one of today's Manx Shearwaters from the South End with and egg (on the right) - taken with an endoscope.

Other birds of interest and full counts from the day's sea-watches were: one Sanderling, one Knot, one Turnstone, one Purple Sandpiper, four Whimbrels, two Curlews, 78 Oystercatchers, 254 Gannets, 246 Kittiwakes, 35 Fulmar, 161 Puffins, 4974 Manx Shearwaters, two Chiffchaffs, one Blackcap and four Goldfinches.

There was no ringing today due to the strong winds and no moths were caught.


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