22nd September 2026

 Weather: SE 1,   backing NE 1

 An afternoon visit discovered a male Goldcrest on the island, surprisingly possibly the first this autumn at this late date. It was in the obs garden on arrival and was caught for ringing.

 

 

 

 

 

Another Chiffchaff was here, also in the obs garden, a Pied Wagtail showed and 8 Meadow Pipits were moving south. Another Robin was ringed, a few have been trickling through the last few days. 

 

 

 

 Among the 240 Dunlin present was a colour ringed bird from elsewhere, we will make enquiries as to its origin.

 

 

 

 

 A Golden Plover flew west and there were  8 Sanderling, 45 Bar-tailed Godwits and  62 Ringed Plover present.

An immature Kestrel hunted the island and there was another good count of 14 Little Egrets.

 Brent were logged at 52 with 18 Shelduck. Twenty Five Common Scoter sat on the sea while a Shag was at the north end.

 

 

 

Ringed: 1 Goldcrest, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Robin.

Photos SRW 

21st September 2026

 Weather: SE force 1/2       NE 1  late afternoon

 

 A walk over Middle this morning had a Green Sandpiper flying over the vehicle track to the island and was then rediscovered when it flew up calling from the south end of the island. This is a rare visitor to Hilbre while more expected were 2 Common Sandpipers that were heard calling near Niffy bay and later heard calling further south.

 

 

Later two Golden Plover were found calling and flying south. There were good numbers of other waders today including 255 Curlew, 145 Redshank, 120 Dunlin, 200 Knot, 85 Ringed Plover, 42 Grey Plover, 110 Bar-tailed Godwit, 140 Sanderling and  4,500 Oystercatcher.

After a day for really good sea watching the light winds still produced a few birds on the sea: 20 Common Scoter, 6 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Guillemots, 2 Sandwich Terns and 13 Red-throated Divers -sighted on the flat calm sea at the flood tide. Very little migration but there were 6 Pied Wagtails, 2 Skylarks, 40 Meadow Pipits, 7 Robins, a Swallow and a Chiffchaff. 

 Brents are now at 55 birds and there were 18 Little Egrets, 35 Shelduck, 2 Grey Herons, 2 Ravens and a Kestrel. The insect world still gives interest to the island with a Hummingbird Hawk moth, and butterflies including a Red Admiral and a Clouded Yellow. 

 

 The wasp is a male of the genus Ichneumon. Conspicuous wasps and parasitoids of moth pupae, there are plenty of very similar species. Our suspicion is that it is most likely Ichneumon suspiciosus.

 

 

 

 

 

Ringed: 2 Wrens, 2 Robins, 1 Chiffchaff 

 Photos SRW

20th September 2026

Weather:  WNW 6, 7/8 cloud, good vis

With the sea-watching weather continuing it was an early start for three members (one who had stayed over and the others joined before dawn).  Unlike on many previous occasions ... they would not be disappointed as today was an outstanding day.

The first birds were seen before dawn with Manx Shearwaters passing close in to the North End soon to be followed by the star of the show - Leach's Petrels (our logo bird of course).

It was great to see some skuas after it has been such a poor year for them so far.  Five Arctic Skuas were seen including a single adult pale phase that flew in and landed on the sand.  

Meanwhile, a Great Skua (aka 'Bonxie') approached menacingly from the North East and headed straight for the north end before flying right behind the sea-watching hide and over the heads of observers.  Amazing views! The photographs indicate it was ringed so we are hopeful that a couple of digits made lead us to work out where it was ringed (if not the date it was ringed).

Whilst watching a Leach's Petrel heading west one sharp-eyed observer picked up a Grey Phalarope whizzing west but it disappeared behind the waves having ditched onto the sea.  However, seconds later and it was on the move again and the other observers present were able to get onto this delightful oceanic wader.  It ditched in a couple more times before disappearing one final time.  A screenshot from a video grab means today's bird only got the record shot below.

However, below is a library photograph of last year's Grey Phalarope on the East Hoyle sandbank for reference (https://hilbrebirdobs.blogspot.com/2025/09/22nd-september-2025.html).

Single Arctic Tern and only 8 Sandwich Terns and a single juvenile Kittiwake were noted and 3 Red-throated Diver were seen on the evening tide (with none present in the morning) and only a single Great Crested Grebe was on the sea.

A solitary juvenile Gannet passed through in the evening.

Amazingly a Blackcap appeared in the traps late morning and late in the day an Osprey was spotted along North Wirral and was picked up east of the Hoylake Lifeboat Station from the island.  An amazing end of a brilliant day on the island.

Osprey (seen over Leasowe) - Sean O'Hara

The final counts for the day was 131 Leach's Petrels (90 pre-dawn to 1030hrs, 22 reported to us during the day and 19 between 5-7pm) - we suspect there were more between 1030am-5pm as 50 were reported from Point of Ayr in North Wales between 4-5pm. 

Photos by AEH, CJW, SRW and Sean O'Hara (Osprey)

19th September 2026

Weather:  SW 4, 7/8 cloud clearing to 4/8, good vis, clearing for sunny spells after heavy rain mid morning, warm (up to 19 C)

The working party of our 'Newton' heligoland trap continued this morning - albeit a heavy downpour, that was not forecast, brought a temporary halt to proceedings.

After bacon, mushroom and tomato sandwiches had replenished the team work continued only to be halted by the occasional shout of "Leach's Petrel" or "Arctic Tern".

The work party taking a short break watching a Leach's Petrel from the trapping area!

Work proceeded well, but the best birdwatching occurred over the tide when more Leach's Petrels appeared and a single Storm Petrel (potentially the only record for the year) but more scarce and continuing the recent duck theme when four ducks flew in from the north east and caused an identification conundrum for a short while (when flying distantly head on) before turning west and revealing themselves to be four Gadwall (here is a library record photo of two Gadwalls on a similar seawatch on 20 November 2015). The latest record of four represent the 20th record for the islands since the foundation of the Bird Observatory in 1957.

Other seabirds included 11 Red-throated Divers, 2 Razorbill, 6 Guillemot, 8 Sandwich Tern, 2 Little Tern and 2 Manx Shearwater. 

With the wind forecast to increase overnight and another early morning tide one observer remained for the night ... what will tomorrow bring?

Photos SRW

18th September 2026

Weather: WSW 4, 8/8 cloud, moderate vis, 

With the wind dropping sea-watching was unsurprisingly disappointing but that was made up by other records.

Two Kestrel were present for the first time this autumn, more expected were two Peregrine an adult and a young bird.

Two Ravens appeared over the island as is often the case these days - a once rare bird on the islands is now a regular visitor.

There were 1,250 Black-tailed Godwit counted on the Salisbury sandbank and a Greenshank was watched passing the north end and a Merlin similarly flew out to the north west seen by visiting birder Colin Davies.

There was an increase in Pale-bellied Brent Geese to 42.  In the evening four Pintail flew over the south end of West Kirby Marine Lake towards Hilbre and are our first of the autumn.  Similarly, a Curlew Sandpiper was found at the south end of the lake and as the tide dropped it flew into our recording area.

Photos SRW