The weather was much like yesterday afternoon, with bright sunshine and a moderate south-westerly wind.
A total of 13 Whimbrels, three Curlews, four Common Sandpipers and two Turnstones seen around the island indicated some wader passage. Also, three Sandwich Terns and a Lesser Redpoll flew over the Narrows, and a Starling and a Goldfinch were seen on the South End. The long-staying Grey Heron remains on the Island, feeding around the Narrows, and the Kestrel was seen again hunting over Pen Cristin. Six Risso's dolphins were also seen feeding off the North End.
The highlight of the day was seeing the first Chough fledglings of the season, with a brood of two flying around with their parents! On top of that, we also found our first Manx Shearwater chick of 2024 when checking study burrows for a project with Bangor Univeristy.
The first Manx Shearwater chick of 2024! © Kate Fox |
Lauren Evans from Bangor University deploying geolocators on Manx Shearwaters © Kate Fox |
A geolocator fitted to a Manx Shearwater colour ring © Steve Stansfield |
The team spent the afternoon around the East Side, largely focusing on ringing Razorbills before they depart for the ocean once again. A total of 135 chicks and 13 adults were ringed, and 20 adults were retrapped. Many of the chicks are now looking like 'jumplings', ready to head out to sea with their parents at dusk over the coming days.
A Razorbill 'jumpling' © Kate Fox |
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