After almost a week of relatively unsettled weather, there was a calm enough respite today to allow for the week's staying visitors to dash across the bouncy Bardsey sound and onto the island. This respite in wind strength and rain also produced some reasonable birding around the island: there was an excellent count of
five Garden Warblers made during the day, two of which were trapped, and the first
Common Swift of the year darted northward mid-afternoon. Besides the
Garden Warblers, there were also 10
Sedge Warblers, three
Whitethroats, 23
Blackcaps, 19
Chiffchaffs and 14
Willow Warblers in the vegetated areas . Some more passerine migrant counts comprised 23
Swallows, four
House Martins, six
White Wagtails and 32
Wheatears. In terms of non-passerines, singles of
Black Guillemot,
Sandwich Tern and
Bar-tailed Godwit were the highlights, although a good show of waders also produced one
Ringed Plover, nine
Dunlins, 24
Whimbrels and five
Curlews.
After a little drop of rain, the vegetation on the island is beginning to spring up, and the wetlands are beginning to liven up with the appearance of Cuckoo Flowers Cardamine pratensis
After a lot of coming and going, it seems that the alcids have now settled down onto the cliffs of the East Side, and it will not be long until many are on eggs
A surprised Dung Fly
Fantastic shots of the Razorbills
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