Saturday, 5 May 2018

Another day of tentative fog today, with the sun showing its face on occasions as the fog rolled in and out. The semi-resident Merlin appeared again today, whilst a group of 20 Purple Sandpipers were a pleasant addition to the day list, other migrant waders included eight Whimbrels. Over the Narrows as well were a brace of Sandwich Terns calling as they passed rapidly through the island. Surprisingly the first real hirundine passage wasn’t recorded until today when a modest 12 Sand Martins, 83 Swallows and five House Martins made their way overhead, Swift passage shouldn’t be too far behind now?

It's taken a while, but Auks are eventually properly back on ledges. The first few eggs have already been laid to begin, hopefully, a successful breeding season! ©Ephraim Perfect


 After quickly gening up on the difference between fog and mist this evening I can be pretty confident  what we had today was fog since I couldn't see past my nose at times - "a thick cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface that obscures or restricts visibility (to a greater extent than mist; strictly, reducing visibility to below 1 km)"

After a notable absence the first Whinchats appeared on the island today with three in the South End gorse accompanying today’s four Stonechats. Wheatears numbered 20 today, with a mixture of presumably resident and migratory birds. A scattering of other common migrants included 16 Sedge Warblers, 18 Whitethroats, seven Blackcaps, 15 Chiffchaffs, 44 Willow Warblers, two Spotted Flycatchers, 26 Goldfinches, two Bullfinches and two Reed Buntings (a scarce spring migrant for Bardsey).

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