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Tuesday 1 November 2016

Tue 1 Nov – Huge feeding flock of gulls and good migrant passage

Tim Davis, who is on the island with James Diamond and (un-beknown to them in advance) Richard Campey, report a huge feeding flock of gulls on the East Side, spreading from the Landing Bay to Gannet's Coombe. At around 12:50 the flock included 400 Kittiwakes, 200 Herring Gulls, 6 Common Gulls, 3 Black-headed Gulls, a few Great Black-backed Gulls, a Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Great Skua. Most notable though was the presence of six adult Mediterranean Gulls - the largest ever Lundy count of this species - and well overdue considering the number that winter on the nearby Devon mainland and in southern Ireland.
Over the island there was good thrush passage, with counts of 200 Redwing, 50 Fieldfare, 15 Song Thrush, 25 Blackbird and a Ring Ouzel. Strong Chaffinch migration amounted to at least 500 birds. A flock of 700 Starling were feeding in South West Field. Elsewhere, five Water Rail were reported (3 in Millcombe and 2 at Pondsbury), a Jack Snipe was flushed from the Upper East Side path and three Lapwing were on the Airfield. A female Sparrowhawk and a Merlin were present.
Sadly there was no sign of any Yellow-browed Warblers or the Pallas' Warbler, but six Chiffchaffs were present.

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