A sunny day with a strong northerly breeze produced a good fall of migrants on the island today, enjoyed by all birders and guests. Today's totals are as follows: 7 adult Mallard still looking after 4 young (this number is getting smaller by the day!), 18 Swift, a single Racing Pigeon, 1 Collared Dove, 10 Woodpigeon, 18 Oystercatcher, another fly-over Ringed Plover (possibly the same as yesterday), 56 Kittiwake, 22 Great Black-backed Gull, 298 Herring Gull (with a bit of a marked movement up the East Side) and 83 Lesser Black-backed Gull (no counts of auks on this windy day). There were 4 Storm Petrels heard at the Battery last night. The male Kestrel was very active today – but not the female, which hopefully means she is sat on the nest – and 4 Peregrine were noted. The Hooded Crow was still present in Tillage Field. Two late Sand Martin were seen early on, and 142 Swallow and 351 House Martin were logged throughout the day, as were 5 Willow Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff, 1 Sedge Warbler, a singing Lesser Whitethroat and 12 Common Whitethroat. But by far the highlight for all islanders was the marked increase in Spotted Flycatchers; though not quite Portland numbers (200+) by Lundy standards a count of 42 was very welcome, 9 of which were feeding together on the Barton Field fence. However, rarity wise the birds of the day go to the Tims when they had two male Crossbill in Millcombe early on feeding in the pines before moving off north. No Sign of the Purple Heron today!
 |
Pair of Crossbill © Tim Jones
|
 |
| Peregrine and Lesser Black-backed Gull © Richard Campey |
 |
| Spotted Flycatcher © Richard Campey |
No comments:
Post a Comment