21st May 2009

With the wind in the north west, sea watching was the priority and good results were obtained with counts of 400 Gannets, 54 Kittiwakes (only 4 adults), 250 Sandwich Terns, 70 Common Terns and a Fulmar. An adult male Eider put in an appearance and 18 Whimbrel were still about the rocks. Again no warblers to be seen, will there be any more this spring ?
(DB) [392]

20th May 2009

A very quick visit after the tide just to see what might have been missed this morning provided the answer - very little. A Brent seen flying off between the islands was a very late record, and a Song Thrush was extremely unseasonal, but the single Wheatear was more expected. Just a small trickle of Swallows went south.
(CJ,et al) [392]

19th May 2009

A southerly wind brought 3 new Willow Warblers and a Whitethroat and a good count of 91 Swallows, 4 House martins and 2 Swifts. Five Little Egrets were on the shore.
(DB) [392]

18th May 2009

The wind is just not abating - and to add to our frustration bands of rain passed through over night and this morning. The only warbler on the island was a Willow from yesterday indicating that birds had not really been on the move much. However, efforts were rewarded with a nice Common Sandpiper on the West side near Lady's Cave (apologies for terrible record shot - above left) and an unusual record of an immature Kittiwake on the east side rocks below the Old Obs (see below).

Interestingly the only new bird caught was an adult Robin?!?

Meanwhile back on the mainland the West Kirby Marine Lake has once again been drained (see below) and is providing excellent habitat for feeding gulls, waders and egrets.

Five Little Egrets (nine last night) were present this morning along with 7 Whimbrel (see opposite).

(DB et al) [392]

(Photo below of West Kirby Marine Lake with Whimbrel in foreground, Little Egret centre and Hilbre in background)

17th May 2009

With a freshening cold south-easterly wind hopes were not raised too high this morning - and observers were not wrong! Hardly anything first thing - but news of an Icterine Warbler on the Great Orme spurred the team on and another round of the traps produced a single Willow Warbler and a single Lesser Repoll (not quite the standar dreamed of but nevertheless not a 'null day'.

Another Willow was caught later with a third around the island - but no other warblers on at all - unusual for mid May in a south-easterly of any description. A few Swallows (c60) and the odd House Martin moved through but in general it was a very quiet morning. However, waders were in evidence with Knot, Dunlin, Turnstone, Curlew and Whimbrel (3) around the islands and 2 Little Egrets in the gutter.

(DB, TGW, SRW + PSW) [391]

16th May 2009

Despite the south east wind direction the morning did not 'feel right' because of the cold and gusty conditions and clear visibility.

A Peregrine was on the rocks south of Middle (left), and a drake Scoter off the west side (below), however passerines were hard to come by with just 3 Willow Warblers on the ground, a few Lesser Redpolls overhead and a Wheatear that did not arrive until after 09.00hrs. Swallows were at about 80, but a bigger proportion of House Martins were counted today at 37 birds but Swifts were again scarce at 2 individuals.

Up to 60 Gannets were on the sea, but Common and Sandwich Terns were only in single figures.

Excitement of the day was the arrival of 6 Mute Swans (3 adults and 3 immature) at the east of the island (left). They stayed for a couple of hours just below the obs garden and then flew off towards Wales. Mute Swan is a scarce bird at Hilbre, and most of them are 'fly by' records. Later the Lifeboat service were on excercises in the same part of the east gutter (below).

Ringed today:- 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Meadow Pipit.

(FD,JE,CJ,SRW,+CD,PSW) [388] photos CJ

14th May 2009

A pleasant change this morning to find hardly a breath of wind after the strong easterlies that had made birding quite uncomfortable recently.

The murky damp conditions were brightened for the observers by some good birds to be seen from soon after dawn.

The first 2 Spotted Flycatchers (above and right) of the year prefered to fly-catch from the fences and other open areas rather than the normal trees and bushes, which explains why they failed to be ringed today.

Likewise a Whinchat also failed to cooperate and stayed on high perches and even sat on top of a mist net pole at one stage (right).

More obliging were 3 of the 5 Sedge Warblers present, 1 of the 2 Whitethroats, and half of the small trickle of Willow Warblers during the morning.

Hirundines were logged at over 400 Swallows, 5 House Martins, also 4 Swifts.

Some significant wader counts (for this time of year) were about 1,000 Knot and 15 Sanderling all moving north east. The by now almost expected Little Egret (left) didn't appear until noon.

Ringed :- 5 Willow Warblers, 3 Sedge Warblers, 1 Whitethroat.

(DB,CJ et al) [385] photos CJ et al

13th May 2009

No warblers appeared until about 08:30hrs when 3 Willow Warblers (left) were around the paddocks, but very little else except a few Goldfinches (below) on the ground and a Redpoll overhead.

Eleven Swallows went through by 10.30hrs with 5 Swift and a Sand Martin, while Whimbrel were down to only 4 birds on the west side rocks and 2 Little Egrets fed in the east gutter (below left).

An Angle Shades moth (right) was found near the north end.

Later a Red Sword-grass (left) was discovered in the vicinity of the Newton trap, unfortunately it was dead, nevertheless it is a species previously unknown at Hilbre.

Ringed:- 3 Willow Warblers, 1 Linnet

(DB,JE,CF,CJ) [376] photos CJ & JE