28th August 2022

 Weather:  ESE force 2   NE 1/2 by late afternoon

Very much an autumn type day with no warblers again but records of 2 Common Snipe flying over the north of the island early on, 2 Grey Wagtails (and a Pied) passing through, and another Greenshank around the island. Unexpected was a Purple Sandpiper found at the north end and later (probably the same) seen at the south slipway within inches of a vehicle exiting the island.

 

Appearances of single Purple Sandpiper in summer is not without precedent, in fact it has occurred quite often in recent years, it is not expected to remain for the winter and will probably move on fairly quickly. Today there were less Wheatears found than yesterday but four were still present. A small trickle of Swallows also went through. The Linnets have finished breeding, however a flock of 45 formed roaming the island. A single Shag was here again, there were 220 Cormorants, 45 Ringed Plover, 65 Redshank, single Bar-tailed Godwit and single Whimbrel. Eight Little Egrets were counted, that is now about normal for this time of year. The air show at Rhyl gave us a fly by of a Lancaster, a Spitfire and a Hurricane,
 

also an attempted display by the Red Arrows. It has been reported that one of the Hawks suffered a smashed cockpit as a result of a bird strike and had to make an  emergency landing at Hawarden (photos are available online of the exact moment of the incident). All of the jets landed safely.
 

 The count of seals resting on the west hoyle this morning was 315

 

 Photos SRW