Tuesday, 28 August 2018

Our three fantastic volunteers George, Nathan and Kevin have been busy over the past couple of days reconstructing the portable Heligoland trap that will be placed down on the beach with the aim of colour-ringing Rock Pipits. It involved hours of meticulous filing and sanding to get one pole to fit into another, but the hard work eventually paid off today when the trap was erected on Solfach - it looks almost looks as good as new!

Strong north-westerly winds provided favourable conditions for seawatching, and an impressive total of 297 Sandwich Terns were clocked moving off the west coast during the day. On the land, a Reed Warbler ringed in Cristin Withy was the first of the autumn.

Other birds logged today included seven Fulmars, 315 Manx Shearwaters, 240 Gannets, 21 Cormorants (including an impressive flock of 19 that flew south), four Grey Herons, seven Common Scoters, a Sparrowhawk, five Kestrels, two Peregrines, a Ringed Plovers, a Snipe, ten Whimbrels, 38 Curlews, five Redshanks, a Common Sandpipers, 24 Turnstones, an Arctic Skua, a Great Skua, seven Black-headed Gulls, 112 Kittiwakes, 30 Arctic Terns, seven Guillemots, a Razorbill, a Little Owl, a Sand Martin, 28 Swallows, three House Martins, 13 White Wagtails, four Robins, six Stonechats, five Wheatears, a Sedge Warbler, a Reed Warbler, a Whitethroat, six Chiffchaffs, six Willow Warblers, two Goldcrests, a Spotted Flycatcher, a Chaffinch and 37 Linnets.

The portable Heligoland trap on Solfach should allow us to continue with the  island's Rock Pipit colour-ring project.

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