12th October 2023

Weather:  SE force 1,   sunny, warm and very calm

When the sun rose it quickly warmed up the island and shone all day.

A lovely day on the island with quite a lot of visible migration going on for protracted periods including 81 Skylarks passing in groups of up to 11, also 4 Reed Buntings calling overhead early in the day, 12 Pied and 1 Grey Wagtail, 7 Siskins flying through, a Lesser Redpoll and no less than 24 Goldfinches, many of which came to the ground. Two groups of 4 and 5 late Swallows fed for a short period on their way south, while as many as 150 moving Meadow Pipits and some Linnets were seen to be taking the opportunity to feed on the island. In the gardens and paddocks about 12 Goldcrests and a Chiffchaff seemed not to want to move on and hung around all day. By far the rarest Hilbre bird today was a Great White Egret which was moving west towards North Wales but was not seen until it was distant and almost too late to be photographed.

It's smaller cousin numbered 15 feeding mostly to the east of the island. A Raven was at the south end of Middle early in the morning. 

There were 2 Pergrines as well as the Kestrel today and also at least 2 Merlins. The first of them circled the island a couple of times and seemed to have a small piece of flesh in its grip before headed straight out to Wales. Later another flew off the east side, and late afternoon another or one of the previous ones showed up.

 

The Brent hit a new peak at 223 birds, 177 Shelduck were noted today and 8 Wigeon were seen early on and later in the morning a single Teal flew down the east side. Nine Red-breasted Mergansers swam in the east gutter on the flood tide early in the day, where the Eiders spent some of the tide swimming around on the flat calm water, they numbered today 2 adult males and 7 female/immature types. Another good day of sea recording involved 16 Red-throated Divers, 9 Gannets, 18 Great Crested Grebes and a very impressive total of 65 Guillemots. A surprise wader was found in Niffy bay roosting with a few Redshanks and Turnstone, it was a late Whimbrel.

 

Other waders of note were 214 Curlew, 700 Dunlin, 45 Ringed Plover, 6 Sanderling and a Golden Plover which was a late addition to the list in the afternoon. Two Red Admirals and a Peacock butterfly were flying in the sunshine. On the way off the island in the twilight our member heard 3 Redwings calling overhead between Middle Eye and West Kirby shore, and several more over Dee Lane, there is sure to be a large influx into the country any time now.

Photos SRW