Monday, 20 August 2018

Today saw the biggest 'fall' of the autumn, with a really nice scattering of common migrants dotted around the island. It started quietly, but following an early morning rain shower a wave of birds dropped in, with two Grasshopper Warblers (including one scurrying around the cliff tops at the seawatching hide!) and a Whinchat on the South End and a Wood Warbler caught at Cristin a little while later. News from Nant was that it was equally birdy, with several Spotted Flycatchers, numerous Willow Warblers and the first returning Pied Flycatcher of the autumn.

Final tallies from an enjoyable day included three Fulmars, 14 Gannets, five Cormorants, 14 Shags, two Grey Herons, seven Mallards, a Sparrowhawk, two Kestrels, two Peregrines, five Ringed Plovers, five Dunlins, three Whimbrels, 17 Curlews, two Common Sandpipers, 28 Turnstones, four Black-headed Gulls, 29 Kittiwakes, 12 Sandwich Terns, a Guillemot, 100 Swallows, 43 House Martins, nine Robins, a Whinchat, 11 Stonechats, six Wheatears, two Grasshopper Warblers, six Sedge Warblers, four Whitethroats, three Blackcaps, a Wood Warbler, two Chiffchaffs, 115 Willow Warblers, 20 Spotted Flycatchers, a Pied Flycatcher, three Chaffinches and 49 Linnets.

Phwoar! Today's star bird was this beautiful Wood Warbler ringed at the observatory midway through the morning. 

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