9th-13th June
It's been a very mixed bag in terms of the weather over the past few days but sadly it hasn't been a mixed bag in terms of arriving migrants! It does seem the Spring migration has very much halted and we'll have to wait for those early Summer arrivals, unless the winds and weather have something else up their sleeve of course!
The 9th started quietly despite the promise of birds arriving, especially after the previous evenings late arrival. However with nets open at 04:30 the only reward was a male Siskin albeit a very smart one! The Red-rumped Swallow didn't make a showing for the whole day and we thought it had probably moved on early doors, we were wrong however as it would re-appear the following day over Holland House but remained elusive being seen on long feeding circuits assumably between Holland, Gretchen, Brides and Hooking. It was also seen very briefly on 11th but hasn't been seen since, however it wouldn't be a surprise if it re-appeared!
Another bird we that seems to be re-appearing and disappearing is the now long-staying Marsh Warbler in Holland, while it was present on 9th singing away in its favoured haunt it was seemingly not present the following day or in fact until 13th when it suddenly burst into life again, there is of course a possibility it's a new bird, it seems Marsh Warblers in Holland always sing from pretty much the same area but it's not a question we can answer, so for arguments sake it's the same!
Other highlights have been hard to come by, a smattering of male Siskin have been present in twos at Holland and Ancum while a single bird was at Longar. There also seems to be a Lesser Redpoll commuting around the island having been seen at the Surgery, Scottsha' and Ancum Willows. A big influx of Kittiwake were present around the North end on 12th with c600 birds sitting on the short turf around Bewan and decent arrival of 'Portlandica' Arctic Terns was noticeable on the same day with between 80-100 birds with the adults around Bewan.
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