The island woke to a hard South‑Westerly, force seven, driving rain across the island and a sea state of five pushed spray and sea-foam up well over the West Coast and into the Wetlands.

Work on the Lodge continued... Steve discovered some rather unwanted dry rot in one of the Bedrooms after knocking a bit of paint off the wall. The paint lifted off like wallpaper leaving the mycelium of the dry rot visible. More scraping revealed more fingers of rot, and although not wanted, it was quite beautiful!

what began as a small patch of loose paint...

turned into a large patch

with these amazing sea weed-like fronds

and much of the wall had the paint removed.

Lots of extra work we didn't need!

now onto the other rooms

lots of damp stains covered using expensive stain-block paint

Still, it was a nice day outside!

Over on the West Coast, 19 Manx Shearwaters and three Gannets passed, an additional Gannet was seen off the South End. Shags were scattered in small groups, 12 in all, the largest group being six at the South End. 

A lone Grey Heron was seen below Cristin on Pwll Gareth. Two Shelducks were seen on Henllwyn. The Gadwall pair remained on Pwll Cain with five Mallard seen across the Wetlands.

Raptors were thin but present: a female Sparrowhawk at nant, a female Merlin patrolled the South End in the morning, and the resident male Peregrine was seen over Cristin.

A good Oystercatcher count today, with 103 birds spread across Southern half of the island.  A single Curlew was seen on Solfach.

The first Sandwich Tern of the year was recorded today in a less than traditional way. It was found predated next to the South End hide, presumably by the large immature female Peregrine which has taken up residence on the South End.

A single Swallow flew south over Cristin, as did two ‘alba’ wagtails, across the rest of the island 23 Meadow Pipits were present. Singles of Dunnock, Robin and Blackbird all noted at Cristin but not elsewhere, a rather poor count. Small numbers of Stonechats and Wheatears were seen with three of the former, including a pair on the South End, and four of the latter, two males at the South End and another two on the Narrows.

Warblers were thin on the ground: two Blackcaps at Cristin, five Chiffchaffs across the island, and a single Willow Warbler in the Withies. One each of Goldcrest and Firecrest were seen at Nant, flicking through the sheltered Conifers.

Finches were sparse, just two Goldfinches at Cristin and two Linnets at the South End.