27th August 2023

 Weather:  NW force 5   early drizzle

Overnight wind and early morning squalls meant sea-watching was the order of the morning. The decision was soon rewarded when an intermediate plumaged juvenile Long-tailed Skua flew passed the north end heading west. This more rare of the skuas to visit Hilbre is typically seen only in strong winds in autumn, mainly September.

 It turned pout to be a good sea watch altogether with sightings of 6 Arctic Skuas, 65 Gannets, 8 Kittiwakes, 35 Common Scoter, 339 Sandwich (but only about 3 Common) Terns.

 The 3 main small wading species recently are Ringed Plover, Sanderling and Dunlin.

With totals this morning of  35 Ringed Plover, over 50 Dunlin and 70 Sanderling.

 There were 60 Curlew and just 2 Whimbrel in the gutter.

 The male Eider still floats around the island and there were 10 Little Egrets today. A Blackbird was caught and ringed.

Photos SRW