23rd and 24th August
The strong easterly wind continued through the day on the
23rd which, coupled with the overcast conditions and rain moving in
by late afternoon built expectations up further and further; the first and best
bird to mention though was a summer plumaged adult AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER seen well by
one observer in torchlight up near the Lighthouse – it was located as we were
on a dazzling expedition and the lucky (or unlucky) individual nearly had the
net on the bird before it disappeared into the night, not to be seen again,
hopefully he got enough on the bird to put a good description in!
The
rest of the day proved to be a bit of an anti-climax with the merest trickle of
new arrivals hinting what was out there waiting for the rain to drop them in;
new birds included 3 Kestrels, 10 Willow Warblers, a Garden Warbler and a
Short-eared Owl along with 3 Herons, 15 Black-tailed Godwits and a Greenshank.
The recent rough nights have been great for dazzling, with the 4th and 5th Black-tailed Godwits ever to be ringed on the island the highlights
After
a very wet and windy night, dawn on the 24th was oddly calm and dry
allowing a two-hour window in which to open some nets at Holland House and
pretty much the first bird caught was a cracking GREENISH WARBLER – autumn had finally arrived!
The weather then proceeded to
throw a variety of conditions at us, with several hours of solid rain, followed
by several hours of thick fog followed by a calm, clear evening revealing a
thin but widely scattered spread of new migrants with a juvenile Dotterel on Torness new for the year and 3 Tree Pipits and 2 Grasshopper Warblers new for the autumn along
with, 5 Kestrels, 4 Garden Warblers, a Whinchat, 21 Willow Warblers, a
Chiffchaff and 2 Robins. Other birds
included a Pintail (first one since 6th July), 2 Grey Plovers, 2
Green Sandpipers, 3 Ruff, 15 Black-tailed Godwits, a Short-eared Owl and 20
Sand Martins.
Greenish Warbler
Tree Pipit
Dotterel
Photos Simon Davies
Comments