Today was another altogether calm day with sun throughout making it actually surprisingly quite warm at times!

Sam and George both were up at first light to get nets opened at Cristin and in Nant Plantation. While opening at the Obs, it appeared there were a lot of birds around. Phylloscopus warblers could be heard calling from all around the garden, Blackcaps had already started fly-catching in the net rides, too. Above the Observatory garden, a Grasshopper Warbler was reeling in the gorse and a Chiffchaff was singing from nearby - things were looking good!

The first net round at Cristin produced almost 30 birds, most of which were Willow Warblers, but a few Blackcaps had been caught along with the bird of the morning - a Grasshopper Warbler. This is the second 'Gropper' of the year to be ringed and are always exciting birds to see, both in the hand and in the field. It was soon time for another net round and another similarly-sized catch was had, this time with a few more Blackcaps. Nets remained open at the Observatory until late evening and the day total ended at 100 birds, 50 of which were Willow Warblers. At Nant, Sam had finished with 55 birds caught in four hours, not bad at all.

  One of the greyer looking Willow Warblers trapped today

A dapper male Stonechat

Steve headed out early too to get some birding in and see what was about. He found a male Redstart at Nant in the gorse in the valley and four Grasshopper Warblers were singing in the area, it was quickly becoming apparent that there had been a large arrival of migrants overnight. A Whitethroat then began singing on the Mountainside in a small patch of scrub and was a new bird for the year - this is the sixth warbler species to be recorded so far this season.

Steve then headed to the North End and radioed to say that Wheatears had started coming in and moving North quickly - more and more came and the total quickly soared as birds continued moving through for the next hour or so. He finished his count at the South End and had ended up with a final total of 244 Wheatears, about half of which were the large brighter Greenland birds. This is a huge increase from yesterday, and although this is a somewhat expected influx for the time of year, there is always something breathtakingly special about seeing such large numbers of migrants moving across the island, especially with a birds as stunning as Wheatears. 

Many of the Wheatears were  were flying straight through the and not staying on the island

 Some of the Wheatears which did stay were rather handsome 

Greenland race birds  Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa 

 Quite a few (about half) were off the smaller paler nominate race O. o. oenanthe

 Some of the brighter and larger Greenland birds spent time perched atop Gorse bushes...

 and the resident breeding birds remained singing on their usual song-posts

At the South End, it was much the same story, there was another Grasshopper Warbler and a female Redstart in the gorse along with a Sedge Warbler too.

Over in the Withies, more Willow Warblers were present along with another two Grasshopper Warblers, a Sedge Warbler and a Whitethroat. Another male Redstart was feeding in Carreg Withy and was the third bird of the day. The Willow Warbler total by the end of the day came to fairly respectable 455, much higher than last years best count.

Just one of the good number of Willow Warblers seen today

The Narrows produced some good wader records today too, firstly there had been a large increase in Whimbrel numbers overnight with 29 being noted today. There were also three new species for the year on the Narrows as singles of Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit and Common Sandpiper were recorded on the coast along with 125 Oystercatchers and five Curlews.

 The first Common Sandpiper of the year

 Curlew - showing its long very beak

 and Whimbrel, with its shorter beak

Clear skies saw some overhead visible migration taking place throughout the day too. A single Tree Pipit had flown over Cristin first thing and 37 Meadow Pipits headed North. A further two Tree Pipits flew over throughout the rest of the day and 12 Swallows, five Sand Martins and three House Martins were also on the move.

Other birds of note today were: 300 Herring Gulls, 2 Collared Doves, 91 Meadow Pipits, 71 Wrens, one Robin, eight Stonechats, two Song Thrushes, ten Grasshopper Warblers, three Sedge Warblers, three Whitethroats, 35 Chiffchaffs and  three Great Tits.

As well as the migrants, the breeding birds were in full song, with Wrens (top) and Dunnocks (bottom) singing across the island.

Ringing totals from the Obs and Nant were: Willow Warbler 78, Blackcap 53, Chiffchaff 9, Goldfinch 6, Stonechat 2, Chaffinch 1, Robin 1, Grasshopper Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 1, Whitethroat 1, Goldcrest 1. Total 154 birds of 11 species.