Weather: SE force 3
Thursday started with a small fall of Chiffchaffs, today however started with a small fall of Goldcrests which were keen to move on and only the odd one stayed beyond 2 hours after dawn. The first 2 Sand Martins of the year flew south, meanwhile more mundane migrants arrived such as 2 Woodpigeons, 3 Skylarks, 12 Pied Wagtails, a Chaffinch, 4 Goldfinch, a few migrant Robins and a single Starling.
A Reed Bunting however was notable as it was caught for ringing.
Yet another Blue Tit was calling in the paddocks, and unbelievedly 3 more Long-tailed Tits arrived after the 2 on Thursday, and 2 of them were ringed today after they had toured the island for a while.
A Short-eared Owl was spotted from the obs veranda over the north shore, it flew south before landing on the east hoyle sands.
The next exciting event was a large female Sparrowhawk that shot into the SK trap hoping to catch a bird unaware but was caught itself and duly ringed.
After release it flew off to the east.
In the early afternoon a large female Peregrine flew low over the sand to the east of the islands and shortly afterwards a female Marsh Harrier was seen flying south down the west side of the island and then tracking east towards the West Kirby marine lake.
There were no Goosanders today for a change but 3 of the regular Eiders appeared (2 males and a female). More distantly seen were 6 Common Scoter and 7 Red-breasted Merganser while 11 Purple Sandpipers sheltered in niffy bay with the 85 Turnstones, other counts included 2,500 Knot, 1,000 Dunlin, 70 Grey Plover and 48 Ringed Plover. There were 5 Little Egrets and a Grey Heron.
Ringed: 2 Long-tailed Tits, 1 Goldcrest, 5 Robins, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Sparrowhawk.
Photos CJ, CJW
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