After what seemed like an age of waiting for migration to happen, today, at long last saw a half-decent arrival! The biggest movers were 210
Meadow Pipits, our first obvious movement of the autumn.
Linnets saw an increase to 185, and 27
Willow Warblers were new in. Other Warblers were nine
Goldcrests, three
Chiffchaffs, two
Blackcaps and two
Whitethroats. 23
Wheatears was an obvious increase on previous days, including one of the Greenland race "
Leucorhoa", while the five
Robins seen were all suspected migrants. Most unusual amongst this decent selection of grounded migrants was a cracking male
Ring Ouzel on the West Coast, a very early record! It was also a busy morning overhead, with 205
Swallows, 86
House Martins, 10
Alba Wagtails (one flock, of which three of were identified as
White Wagtail and the others almost certainly were too), seven
Sand Martins and six each of
Grey Wagtail and
Tree Pipit.
A dark morph
Pomarine Skua seen offshore early in the morning was the highlight of seawatching. Otherwise
Kittiwakes usurped
Manx Shearwaters as commonest species, with 1290 of the former and 830 of the latter. An excellent 77
Shags were tallied, alongside 43
Gannets, with some variety in the form of 13
Fulmars, six
Sandwich Terns, four
Black-headed Gulls, one
Mediterranean Gull, two
Little Egrets and seven
Common Scoters. Four
Risso's Dolphins were also spotted offshore late in the morning.
72
Turnstones was a significant increaase, with the only other numerous waders being 41
Oystercatchers and 39
Curlews. Otherwise
Dunlins and
Redshanks numbered 19 and 16 respectively, there were six
Ringed Plovers and four
Whimbrels, and a little bit of quality in the form of singles of
Knot and
Snipe.
The only butterflies of any note were three
Speckled Woods at the Plantation. In the Obs moth trap
Rhomboid Tortrix and
Parsnip Moth were the most notable of a pretty limited selection of 15 species and 30 individuals, but it was nontheless a vast improvement on a very poor few days.
3 Speckled Wood,
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