With the wind sat in the East we'd been anticipating some kind of arrival of migrants, despite this by late afternoon on the 30th we'd still had very little to shout about. It wasn't until a brief shower of rain at about 4pm that stuff started to appear. First a Wood Warbler by T5 followed by a little flurry of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warbler prompted a text to get people into the field looking for what else may have dropped in. A mad dash around in the afternoon produced 2 extra Wood Warblers, a Grasshopper Warbler, a Whinchat, Lesser and Common Whitethroats, a Garden Warbler, a Pied Flycatcher, a male Redstart and at least 4 Tree Pipits before it was too dark to keep birding.
The next day was met with obvious anticipation and early walk around the obs proved it to be well placed! At least 4 male Pied Flycatchers, a Ring Ouzel, a Green Sandpiper and yet another Tree Pipit. The day continued in the same way until around 1700 when a massive rain shower put a stop to most the birding. The pre-rain birding still produced our first Yellow Wagtail of the year at Cruesbrek, no fewer that 14 Pied Flycatcher, 35 Willow Warbler, 3 Wood Warbler, a Garden Warbler, 14 Blackcap, a Common Whitethroat, a Lesser Whitethroat, 21 Song Thrush, 10 Fieldfare, 73 Wheatear and 3 Whinchats! Post rain the most exciting bird was a breeding plumaged Ruff at Kirbest Myre, we don't seem them in their finery all that often on here!
A slightly less dramatic affair the next day as the wind had moved into the North and birds settled in to feed they head off again. Two drake Garganey were on Hooking as was a stray Pink-footed Goose. The Passerine numbers were quite similar with a ditto of 35 Willow Warblers and 14 Pied Flycatchers, five less Blackcap with 9 recorded, a new Siskin and a couple of new Ring Ouzels. Elsewhere 18 Arctic Terns made their way back onto the island tailed by an Arctic Skua. The second Common Sandpiper of the year was by the cattle grid, Sanderling numbers crept up to 303 and likewise many other wader numbers are also on the rise. We'll leave the update there as I'm sure there's something lurking undiscovered on the island!
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| Wood Warbler GG |
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| Pied Flycatcher GG |
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| Redstart GG |
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| Garden Warbler SMR |
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