Today’s weather brought misty conditions with mizzle persisting through most of the day, though a short period of good visibility broke through at midday. Winds blew moderately from the South-East at Force five alongside a sea state of three, with temperatures reaching a mild 16°C.

Seabird counts produced 41 Gannets, 27 Common Scoters, 13 Teals, 96 Razorbills, 17 Kittiwakes, four Manx Shearwaters and one Fulmar. Records from around the coasts included 18 Purple Sandpipers, 16 Curlews, nine Whimbrels, nine Turnstones,  five Dunlins,  two Redshanks, and two Greenshanks one Little Egret, 150 Herring Gulls, 18 Great Black-backed Gulls,  11 Black-headed Gulls, six Common Gulls, ten Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and a Yellow-legged Gull. Raptors sightings featured two Sparrowhawks, two Merlins, and two Peregrines.

Merlin on the South End (c) Ezra Sherwell

Passerine counts included one Whinchat, 73 Robins, one Lesser Whitethroat, three Blackcaps, a Yellow-browed Warbler, 11 Chiffchaffs, seven Goldcrests, a Spotted Flycatcher, 27 Rock Pipits, 22 Meadow Pipits, 16 Skylarks, ten Starlings, four Song Thrushes, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, one Flava Wagtail, three Grey Wagtails, two Chaffinches, one Goldfinch one Linnet and five Reed Buntings.

Marine mammal monitoring offshore recorded two Common Dolphins, while seal haul-outs tallied 93 Grey Seals and nine pups. Invertebrate and mammal records included three Red Admirals, two Silver Ys, one Rush Veneer, one Cinnabar, one Turnip, one White-shouldered House Moth, and a Wood Mouse.

Today’s weather conditions presented calm and clear conditions with a gentle South-East wind blowing at Force 4, very good visibility, and a smooth sea state of one with no precipitation. Temperatures reached a mild 14°C.

Seabird movement and coastal counts included 12 Gannets, 26 Shags, seven Cormorants, 11 Kittiwakes, five Common Scoters, 22 Razorbills, nine Common Gulls, three Black-headed Gulls, and a Mediterranean Gull. Waders and coastal species were represented by 24 Curlews, three Whimbrels, three Turnstones, a Purple Sandpiper, one Ringed Plover, two Snipes and a Redshank. Raptors numbers featured two Peregrines, a Buzzard, a Merlin, and a Sparrowhawk.

Passage counts of passerines produced 119 Meadow Pipits, 32 Skylarks, 24 Alba Wagtails, 19 Rock Pipits, seven White Wagtails, four Grey Wagtails, two Pied Wagtails, 34 Chaffinches, 29 Goldfinches, 29 Linnets, 23 Siskins, five Lesser Redpolls, four Reed Buntings, one Swallow, 40 Carrion Crows, 46 Choughs, 21 Rooks and ten Jackdaws.

Other passerine counts on the island included two Greenfinches, 31 Robins, four Blackcaps, nine Chiffchaffs, seven Goldcrests, a Yellow-browed Warbler at Cristin, a Firecrest at Nant, three Song Thrushes, and a presumed freshly arrived Great Spotted Woodpecker first spotted on the mountain above Nant before dropping onto a fencepost on the Narrows and working its way up the Island via the Withies, Cristin and Ty Bach.

Yellow-browed Warbler caught and ringed at Cristin (c) Steven Stansfield

Marine mammal monitoring offshore recorded seven Common Dolphins off the South End. Grey seal counts around the island haul-outs tallied 51 at Henllwyn, ten at Solfach, and ten elsewhere at the South End, alongside seven pups. Invertebrate sightings included one Red Admiral.