Today really had many seasons, we started off with miserable rain, although the wind was calm, then around lunchtime some strong northerlies picked up to about 30mph gusts. In the mid afternoon, these subsided and bright sunshine ensued. 

Spotted Flycatchers were still present at Nant and Sedge Warblers were singing away in the Withies. Whitethroats are also regularly heard along the bottom of the mountain, there is often a bird singing from the conifer near Carreg Bach. House Martins were seen at Pen Cristin, so perhaps migrating birds, they were flocked together with Swallows, not in huge numbers but nice to see none-the-less.

Whitethroat

There had been a small arrival of Curlews, eight were on the Narrows today which is the highest total since 26th April. They appear to have replaced Whimbrels as the go to numeniini waders of the island. 

The Manx Shearwater census had to be postponed for another day because of the weather, not only does rain make it slippery and dangerous, it also means that the gulls are unable to protect their eggs from the rain if we are there counting burrows... The current weather is squeezing the time limit, but we have a run of calm dry days coming up so hopefully a lot can get done this week!

Birds today: one Dunlin, five Whimbrels, eight Curlews, nine Turnstones, one Little Owl, five House Martins, six Sedge Warblers, two Whitethroats, one Spotted Flycatchers, 12 Siskins and five Lesser Redpolls.