Tuesday, 5 August 2025

Another breezy start to the day with an F6 westerly blowing from the sea. This time though, the sun was out for the whole day. 

It was a quieter day for passerine migrants with sightings including three Willow Warblers and a Whitethroat. Waders were also quiet with two Ringed Plovers, two Redshanks and singles of Common Sandpiper, Whimbrel and Curlew

Gull numbers were up again though not quite to the heights of last week with 277 Herring Gulls, 54 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 13 Great Black-backed Gulls. On Solfach, 11 Black-headed Gulls were concentrated and a juvenile Mediterranean Gull was amongst them. Five Sandwich Terns also passed by including a juvenile in Solfach. 

It was a decent day for raptors too with the lingering Kestrel over the Mountain, two Peregrines, a Sparrowhawk in the Wetlands and our first sighting of a Buzzard on the island for a while, this bird was duly escorted around by three Ravens and a variety of agitated Gulls. 

With the sea too churned up to do any cetacean surveying, Phoebe walked around the island to count the Grey Seals. The majority were sheltering in Henllwyn with a very impressive final total of 252 for the day. We await the first pups to appear in September. 

There were some insects in the sheltered areas with three Migrant Hawkers (one at Cristin, two at Nant), 19 Red Admirals and eight Small Tortoiseshells (the latter seemingly have a nice emergence/influx). In the moth trap, an Orange Swift was new for the year and another smart Antler Moth was caught. 

Antler Moth (C) Greg Lee


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