The first of June produced some scarce birds which added some excitement to the morning. The nets were opened first thing in the morning and Stuart headed out to do the second and third sections of his breeding bird survey. 

The nets were closed early in the morning, but shortly after, Stuart heard a Marsh Warbler singing in the north end of the garden, Sam and Ed went to join him to see if they could hear it and it did sing sporadically but it was thought to have gone south in the garden. A few minutes later, an Icterine Warbler burst into song in the same patch of trees.

The Marsh Warbler remained very skulking, but thankfully the Icterine Warbler did fly out onto the mountain gorse a couple of times and provided decent views (given the species' usual habits!). Otherwise, passage migrants were fairly thin on the ground once again, except the Lesser Redpolls which continue to feed in the garden.

The Icterine Warbler that was heard singing throughout the day

The Manx Shearwater census continued today, and now we have three people working on it we can go at a faster rate meaning a good chunk of the south mountain was covered today.

Birds today: one Grey Heron, one Kestrel, one Dunlin, three Whimbrels, four Curlews, one Common Sandpiper, five Collared Doves, two Cuckoos, two Swifts, 14 House Martins, one Icterine Warbler, one Marsh Warbler, four Siskins and 18 Lesser Redpolls.