Saturday 12 September 2020

Today was a beautiful day on the island, the sun was warm, and the fresh, brisk breeze from the north added a nice chilly autumnal feel to the air.

The morning started with George heading to Ty Pellaf, Sam heading South and Steve seawatching from the Obs. Seawatching was reasonably productive, nine Great Skuas, two Arctic Skuas and one Pomarine Skua along with small numbers of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Manxies, the latter of which's numbers are fast dwindling on seawatches, as many have already headed off South for the winter.

It was evident that Robins were around in greater numbers than usual, as their 'ticking' calls could be heard from most areas of cover, and it was unsurprising that the highest count of the year so far was had today - 59. Two Collared Doves were also new in, with one at the farm and another at the Obs; and while hirundines were not on the move today, Meadow Pipits were around in good numbers again with 97 across the island. Other migrants of note were two Whitethroats, two Blackcaps, five Chiffchaffs, two Willow Warblers and four Goldcrests.

Down on the Narrows, things were a bit quieter than they have been with only one Dunlin, 33 Curlews, two Redshanks and 22 Turnstones. However, 60 White Wagtails were still about which added some interest to the beaches.

The rest of the day was spent checking Manxie Growth Monitoring Burrows, only five chicks remain now in the monitored burrows, and I expect it won't be too long until these too head off, good luck out there little guys!






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