The island woke to an overcast, brisk day, with winds coming from the SSE. Not the conditions holiday makers crave, but enough to make any birder weak at the knees.

Numbers of migrants weren’t particularly high, but instead it was replaced by quality. On the Narrows the usual waders appeared including seven Whimbrels, one Curlew and three Turnstones. However, it was inland that saw the ‘class’ today. Two Cuckoos including a rufous individual were present around the island, with one bathing in the evening sun. Three Swifts flew overhead, as did 33 Swallows, now a mixture of breeders and migrants. In the late morning a walk along the Mountain side above Carreg Bach, provided the first scarce bird of the Spring an adult female Red-backed Shrike! This is the second in two years, of what has recently become quite a scarce migrant through Bardsey, this becomes the 31^st record for the island.

Field sketch of the Red-backed Shrike which made it's way south at speed, moving from Nant to Cristin within five minutes where it was lost!

Other migrant passerines today included two Sedge Warblers, two Blackcaps, 13 Chiffchaffs, six Willow Warblers and one Goldcrest. A Firecrest was seen briefly in the Withies, with four Spotted Flycatchers and a Pied Flycatcher present at Nant.