18th May 2012

Peculiar weather with rain spotting all morning and a cool east/north easterly made it difficult to guess what would occur, but as it turned out the answer was very little. The chief feature of the day was a regular passage of Swifts travelling east, mostly in small groups but totalling 39 before the end of the morning. This may not seem many but those that know Hilbre will realise that it is a good count for a species that always seems to appear in dull threatening weather. Hirundines however, were in smaller numbers today, just 18 Swallows and 4 House Martins. Another passage to the east were 97 Common Terns moving across Liverpool bay, with the more usual Sandwich Terns (above) numbering 84, and 92 Gannnets diving at medium distance. Two Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler were the only warblers and the 4 Wheatears included a female ringed yesterday. Very little else to report except for 2 Pied Wagtails and a brief appearance of a Peregrine. The 4 Whimbrel are still present as are 8 Turnstones in summer plumage together with 3 Little Egrets today although 7 Bar-tailed Godwits seemed to be new in this morning.
Ringed :- 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Willow Warbler
(DB,CJ)          [ 634-29 ]      photo CJ