The easterly winds endured over the weekend ahead of switching to prevailing south-westerly on Monday eleventh and a reasonable northerly on Tuesday Twelfth.
It is been a rollercoaster of a weekend, burning the candle at each ends with nets open at crack of dawn in Millcombe and a overdue night time Hurricane Petrel/Manx Shearwater consultation in between two nights of dazzling effort which concluded with a Hoopoe and a Not unusual Snipe.
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| 2d yr Hoopoe ringed © Adam Day |
After a gradual autumn at the raptor entrance the previous few days have observed unmarried sightings of first yr Marsh Harrier in off and north on the Terrace at the tenth, first yr Osprey in off after which south at Millcombe at the eleventh and Pastime in short across the Touchdown Bay on eleventh. Our visiting ringers Adam Day and Rory Akam are credited with all of those data, so we are very happy to have them at the island.
We endured to swarm with Wryneck, with 4 folks ringed up to now, and a minimum of a 5th unringed hen noticed at the Twelfth. Stayers in Brambles Villa had been even ready to recognize and {photograph} a Wryneck from their front room. The Rose-coloured Starling continues to be provide, even if there were no additional sightings of the Pintail.
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| First yr Wryneck from Brambles Villa © Clive Couzens |
Two Golden Plover one by one at reverse ends of the island at the eleventh, a Ringed Plover over the east at the eleventh, Dunlin on Barton’s Pond on tenth and round Top Boulevard on Twelfth, unmarried Snipe on a regular basis apart from eleventh and in spite of everything a Not unusual Sandpiper heard from North Mild within the night time of the eighth make up waders observations for this era. A small Herring Gull motion used to be famous with 23 at the eleventh. Presently of yr our breeding Herring Gulls have left however we from time to time see birds shifting thru, probably commuting between other feeding spaces inside the Bristol Channel. Small actions reminiscent of this are normally recorded right through the fall ahead of some birds go back on in a few months to over wintry weather across the island. 2 first yr Gray Heron had been provide at the island on eleventh.
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| Ringed Plover south of Part-way Wall. © Clive Couzens ({Photograph} taken on seventh Sept) |
Hirundine counts stay as a trickle up to now, with top counts of 15 Sand Martin, 10 Space Martin, 12 Swallow at the eleventh. There have been 3 Swift feeding over the airfield all afternoon at the Ninth too.
Great arrival of 24 Chiffchaff, 26 Not unusual Whitethroat at the Ninth in conjunction with a Hoopoe over by means of Quarter Wall. A few Sedge, Lawn and Reed Warblers had been picked up maximum days and a Grasshopper Warbler used to be ringed at the tenth. Blackcap have numbered about 20 maximum days, apart from for the eleventh which used to be a lot quieter with best six detected. Willow Warbler had been an identical of their abundance, with about 40 maximum days, however just a dozen at the eleventh. We are nonetheless choosing up Firecrest, with a top of 4 at the eleventh. There used to be a small arrival of Goldcrest at the Twelfth with 21 recorded. A Treecreeper, the primary for the yr, used to be additionally recorded at the eleventh. A Bonelli’s Warbler sp. confirmed very properly at the Terrace at the tenth. No name used to be heard and so it is rather tough to nail it as western or jap in response to plumage on my own.
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| Bonelli’s Warbler sp. Terrace. © Angus Croudace |
Not unusual Redstart had been provide at the Terrace on a regular basis. Flycatcher numbers have slowly been shedding off, with 16 Noticed Flycatcher and 10 Pied Flycatcher at the Ninth, and simply 3 and 5 respectively at the Twelfth. Whinchat have additionally been shifting out with best 3 at the Ninth and a unmarried at the tenth. Together with the noticeable inflow of Whitethroat, Northern Wheatear had been considerable once more at the Ninth, with a depend of 15 recorded most probably an underestimate. The similar Wheatear used to be stuck and ringed in SW box at the Ninth and eleventh while dazzling and it is weight had larger by means of simply over 2g, which is just below 10% of it is general frame weight. It is nice to peer arduous knowledge evidencing those birds feeding up ahead of they embark at the subsequent leg in their migration, which is best imaginable with the insights that attaching a hoop supplies. One of the Wheatears had been of the Greenland race leucorhoa, which can be noticeably chunkier within the box.
A Yellow Wagtail used to be provide at the Ninth and tenth, with the primary two Gray Wagtail of the season round at the Ninth-Twelfth. A few Tree Pipit proceed to be picked up every day. A big flock of 180 Linnet has been observed for a number of days feeding round Pondsbury.
It is also that point of yr the place younger Manx Shearwaters are effectively fledging and leaving the colony. Alternatively, for a couple of the trap of the Marisco Tavern is an excessive amount of! Between nightfall and middle of the night (and then the diesel turbines transfer off for the night time) the lighting fixtures of the Tavern draw in a handful of birds every yr. Upon touchdown within the neighborhood of the Tavern, the flat flooring makes it extraordinarily tough for them to alight once more – the steep cliffs of the colonies are an important a part of getting them airborne once they fledge. They scuttle into cracks, crevices or corners across the Tavern structures when crack of dawn comes, however they are no longer all the time as neatly hidden as they could assume! Those birds are rescued when discovered within the morning. We take the chance to ring them after which that night time go back them to a burrow within the colony to assist them of their subsequent flight try. They’d naturally clear out right down to the cliffs once more themselves below the duvet of darkness, however our serving to hand offers them a shortcut (they’re famously awkward when manoeuvring on land), and likewise strikes them out the best way of the daylight pedestrian site visitors within the busy village.