Two visiting rangers on a sea watch from Sefton (lancs), Duncan Rothwell and Ralph Jones saw a Puffin drifting passed the north end of the island today, and not realising how rare a Puffin sighting is at Hilbre they casually reported it to our member in a matter of fact manner. Many a regular Hilbre sea-watcher have never seen a Puffin at Hilbre, so these two were lucky indeed. The north westerly gave other good records of 100 Manx Shearwaters, 60 Gannets, 3 Red-throated Divers, 3 Kittiwakes, 8 Razorbills, 14 Guillemots. An accurate count was made of 158 Turnstones, no doubt including birds passing through. The migration was poor, a single Sand Martin and 2 Chiffchaffs were the best. There has been a very slow start to the butterfly season in the cold conditions, the first Peacock of the year at Hilbre was seen today together with a Small Tortoiseshell, also the first Pond Skater on the water.
(DB)
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