15th-16th August

Things are slowly starting to move on here, the 15th was much of the same, a sea-watch provided smaller numbers than in recent days, 5 Sooty Shearwaters, 3 Manx Shearwaters, 3 Storm Petrels, 95 Kittiwake and 15 Puffin.
Waders were again much of the same, 85 Dunlin, 146 Knot, 782 Golden Plovers and a single Curlew Sandpiper.
Passerine numbers are starting to pick up a little, the Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler are still lingering around in Holland, more surprisingly a Robin was re-trapped in the morning, also at Holland, it was first trapped in the spring and has hung around, elsewhere 4 Twite were present up the top end.
This is where things start to get interesting, well more interesting than it already was at least. The provided very little with only a single Sooty Shearwater and 2 Puffin.
A female Kestrel was seen coming in off the sea, a good sign of migration and there was more to come, a Peregrine was seen tearing around Quoybanks in the late afternoon, wader numbers showed a slight increase 162 Knot, 16 Ruff, 1117 Golden Plover and now 2 Curlew Sandpipers.
3 Grey Herons came in off the sea in the early evening and toured the island before heading back out again, a Collared Dove was still hanging around the gardens, the Sedge Warblers at the obs have fledged, but there are 10 around the island including the obs birds, an encouraging increase in Willows Warbler bought the numbers up to 7, hopefully that rare is just around the corner!
A Carrion Crow was present around the obs and the 4 Twite were still at the top end.
With rain coming in over the weekend it looks good for a little fall over the weekend.
Curlew Sandpiper with Dunlin - George Gay

Knot - George Gay

Twite - George Gay

Willow Warbler - Gary Prescott

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