A much brighter day dawned with barely any cloud cover leading to a maximum temperature of 19°C. A fresh Northerly breeze at averaging F4 grew gradually throughout the day.

The calm, clear weather created perfect conditions for completing some of the final parts of east side seabird monitoring with a morning boat trip to monitor Kittiwake numbers and breeding success. Later a trip round the east side was undertaken on foot to count Manx Shearwater burrows and ring some of the last remaining Auk. The cliffs have started to look sadly sparse as we approach the end of the breeding season for many of the cliff nesting species.

An unseasonal flock of 15 Common Scoter were seen flying along the West Coast early in the morning. A flock of four Little Egret were also seen flying south over the Narrows early morning by Ben Porter, an additional bird was flushed from the rocks on the east side of Pen Cristin as we went past with Gareth. Two Grey Herons were seen in Henllwyn.

One of the juvenile Oystercatcher that successfully avoided the gulls and Peregrines © Joel Tragen

Curlew numbers hit a high count for the Autumn with 29 seen across the island, a single Whimbrel was noted on the South End and a Redshank flew South along the West Coast.

Seven Black-headed Gulls were noted around the coast, two flying over the South End, another two in Solfach and three off the West Coast.

Juvenile Black-headed Gull accompanied by it's parent © Joel Tragen

An increase in Swifts shot through the island, along with four Sand Martins, 13 House Martins and 49 Swallows.

The first Willow Warblers of the Autumn passed through Nant in the morning, totalling four. Two Chiffchaffs remained around Cristin garden where a Siskin was also noted and three Linnets were seen in the Wetlands.