Today was a much nicer day than yesterday, there was a cool North-westerly breeze in the morning, but that soon died down and we were left with warm sunshine for the majority of the day.

In the morning, the North-West direction of wind prompted Mark to seawatch, as this direction helps to bring birds closer in to the island. It was well worth it, as the first Skuas of the year were recorded with two Adult dark morph Arctic Skuas heading South together early on, followed by two Great Skuas and later on another Adult dark morph Arctic. Plenty of Gannets and Manxies were on the move with.... and .... respectively, and a Little Egret flew South down the West Coast, too.

Over on the Narrows and the South End, wader counts were again reasonable: seven Ringed Plovers,  23 Turnstones, two Purple Sandpipers, one Dunlin, five Whimbrels, five Curlews, five Redshanks and two Common Sandpipers.

Purple Sandpipers

Turnstone

Up at Nant, 25 Willow Warblers were new in and a further 15 in and through the Obs garden was again an indication a few birds had arrived overnight, a total of ... were recorded across the island today. A Spotted Flycatcher was also in the Obs garden today, the first for a while.

In the afternoon, we headed down to Solfach to erect the portable Heligoland Trap on the beach. This trap is our main means of catching Rock Pipits, Meadow Pipits, a few Pied Wagtails and possible a wader or two, so we look forward to using this in the next few days.

In the evening, Dan went on a walk to the South End, apart from two Turnstones and a Dunlin which flew high South, it seemed quiet. A scan of some gulls roosting at the South End revealed a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull on the forefront of the flock. It then flew past, giving great views and so all the relevant ID features could be noted: the bird had a fairly pale head with a contrasting dark 'mask' around the eye, neatly fringed covert feathers, largely plain tertials, a weak pale panel in the primary feathers, a white rump and neat black tail band, strong bill and fairly long pink legs.

George, Sam and Mark quickly headed off to the South End to try to catch up with this gull, as if accepted, it will represent the seventh record for Bardsey. One the way, they scanned through all of the gulls coming from the South End in the hope they may see it on its way past, and then came across a group of gulls roosting on the rocks low to the sea. They began to fly, and attentions were quickly drawn to a gull with an all black bill, neat black tail band, and very clean white rump. A few pictures were taken as it flew past, and after showing them to Steve and others later on, it was agreed this was indeed a second Yellow-legged Gull, separated from the first by the absence of the extensive growth bars present in Dan's bird.