Wednesday, 17 October 2018

There was another change in the winds today, having swung back round to the South-west some places on the west coast of Britain and Ireland faired well. For us, the winds remained calm and allowed a number of migrants to move through.

A Great Northern Diver was seen off the North End in the morning to start things off. Among the usual raptors a Merlin hawked across the island, after yesterday’s absence two Water Rails were in the Withies and 10 Snipes scattered the boggy areas of the island.

Another large movement overhead consisted almost exclusively of Skylark with 244 recorded today along with one Tree Pipit and seven Grey Wagtails. It was another chat and thrush day today, with the Siberian Stonechat continuing its stay in the South End gorse. The bird was present throughout the day showed exceedingly well in the autumn sun. Others included 31 Robins, 12 Stonechats, one Ring Ouzel and three Redwings. It was a little quieter on the warbler front, three Blackcaps were the only sylvias, a Yellow-browed Warbler was heard at Cristin in the morning, whilst eight Chiffchaffs and 19 Goldcrests were the only others recorded. A Coal Tit was still present, and some more finch passage consisted of 57 Chaffinches, 12 Siskins and 11 Lesser Redpolls, the only other birds of note today were three Reed Buntings.

Recent days have seen a spike in number of Hummingbird Hawkmoths on the island, with counts reaching 12 individuals


The Siberian Stonechat continued to associate closely with three western Stonechats in the South End  gorse

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