20th November 2011

  

House Sparrow (PSW)


A misty start to the day saw the Merlin continue to hunt the islands area, but no sign of the Short-eared Owl. Four Lapwings flew low over the rocks south of Middle, but few birds were about the paddocks, just a Chaffinch and a new Blackbird, although later a few finches came in to check out the feeders. Two Greenfinches were ringed also a House Sparrow which is a scarce bird at Hilbre and is the only one ringed this year. Other migrants were hard to come by, a couple of dozen Starlings, 2 Pied Wagtails and 2 Skylarks were the meagre ration until near midday when a Snow Bunting flew in from the north, circled a couple of times calling and then went off south.

Common Seal (CJ)

The best feature of sea-watching today was the number of fish jumping out of the sea over a very large area, there seemed to be thousands, does anyone know what they are likely to be ? A Common Seal was out on the whaleback, we have not seen one for some time as the seals at Hilbre are Atlantic Greys as regulars will know. Ringed:- 2 Greenfinches, 1 House Sparrow

(DB+ESCA,JE,CJ,PSW)    [1025-48]