20th August 2010

A thoroughly wet night was followed by an equally wet morning and so no migrant were expected, nor did any arrive, although the phylloscopus with the unusual call was ringed and found, as expected, to be a Chiffchaff.

A Greenshank was in the gutter early morning and was possibly the same bird from yesterday (see below).

Squally west /south west winds made the sea interesting especially when a massive amount of Manx Shearwaters were seen feeding distantly to the north west. An estimate of 750 was in line with the large number present on a similar date in August last year. Gannets were counted at 150 and Great Crested Grebes 25, whilst among the commoner terns was a Little and an Arctic Tern.

A second winter Mediterranean Gull (see right and below left) was on the East Hoyle sandbank after the tide and was probably one of the birds seen at West Kirby beach recently, there were also six Little Egrets in the gutter after the tide.

(DB,PSW, et al) [395]

19th August 2010

A Sparrowhawk (probably the same as yesterday) spent most of the morning around the island before flying off towards Wales, finch feathers in the entrance of the SK trap were evidence of its stay. Two Peregrines made a brief appearance over the south end, two Collared Doves (left) flew around the island avoiding the mist nets and settled for long periods on the fencing, but birds of the day would be the 2 Black-tailed Godwits that flew west separately down the Dee (below) and the Greenshank that appeared in the east gutter. The Little Egret count today was 5, while Redshanks increased to 90.

No warblers were to be found first thing but later a phylloscopus warbler with an unusual call was heard and briefly seen in between bouts of diving into bracken. It appearance however seemed normal and it was thought to be one of the Chiffchaff races from Northern Europe. Later a Willow Warbler dropped in to keep it company. Two Robins were fresh in today but the only Wheatear was on Middle before the visitors arrived. Twenty six Swallows were counted and a group of 35 House Martins flew south west between Middle and Little Eye.

Ringed:- 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Robins, 1 Linnet.

(DB,CJ) [394] photos CJ

18th August 2010

A male Sparrowhawk arrived on the island today, but not much else of note, just 1 Wheatear and a Willow Warbler. Four Little Terns were seen, these have been very scarce around Hilbre this year despite the good breeding season at Gronant. An Arctic Skua and 3 Gannets were on the sea, and an adult Mediterranean Gull was on the shore with the Black-headed Gulls.
(DB,AMC)

17th August 2010

A Grasshopper warbler was in the paddocks, possibly the same as the one ringed on Sunday, and a Wheatear was identified as the Greenland race on passage south. A thorough count of Sandwich Terns was made and the total is 676 which backs up recent estimates. Fifty Gannets were on the sea despite the wind being a moderate force 3.
(DB)

15th August 2010 continued- Hover flies

Large numbers of hover flies were noted at Hilbre on 15th, and it will be of interest to record the following comments by observatory member and insect specialist Dr. Gavin Broad verbatum :-
The invasion was of Episyrphus balteatus – often called the Marmalade Hoverfly (left). There were also quite a few of two other species, Syrphus ribesii (below) and Scaeva pyrastri. Both Episyrphus balteatus and Scaeva pyrastri are well known migrants as well as residents. On the East coast there are sometimes huge arrivals of E. balteatus and one year when I was working at Monks Wood they filled the countryside for many miles. I guess ours were probably migrants but it’s interesting that there were a lot of individuals of an ichneumonid, Diplazon laetatorius, which is a parasitoid of E. balteatus (and other hoverflies). It can lay eggs in the egg or young larva of the host hoverfly. That there were so many of the ichneumonid suggests that the hoverflies could have been home-grown (or a mix of a large emergence and an immigrant swarm). Or that the ichneumonids also move along with the hoverflies. The latter would be really interesting.
Keep an eye out for hoverflies!
photos BSB

15th August 2010

A big team assembled this morning in anticipation of the fine weather and the migrants that may arrive on the north easterly breeze; they were not disappointed with about 10 Willow Warblers on the ground and a Tree Pipit (left) in the garden mist net first thing. Tree Pipits are heard calling overhead occasionally in spring and autumn but this is the first ringed for 5 years. Even in the hand they are very similar to Meadow Pipits and to check the species measurements are needed such as the wing formula (right) and the length of the hind claw. Later in the morning a Grasshopper Warbler (left) was trapped in the 'SK' heli, a species that is more often ringed in spring than autumn.










Although the date is typical for Greenshank on Hilbre the sight of 7 calling as they flew across the island (right) is certainly however the event of the day in terms of there being a group as large as this of this scarce Hilbre bird.

Other birds moving this morning were 3 Collared Doves (left), 2 Grey Wagtails 34 Swallows, 2 more Tree Pipits and 2 Wheatears.




Two Peregrines flew about, one was an adult in heavy moult (right) which landed on the radar mast for a while, and the other was a juvenile bird.

The sea was remarkably quiet and no Gannets, Shearwaters, Skuas or Scoters to be seen this morning, just 4 Great Crested Grebes and a small number of terns, perhaps observers staying for the afternoon high tide will fare better.



When the warmth of the sun really brought out the visitors to the island, it also encouraged many varied species of butterfly to fly including the Painted Lady (left) which has been very hard to find this year.

Moths from the light trap last night are, left to right, Rosy Minor, Willow Beauty, Lime Brindled Pug












Ringed:- 6 Willow Warblers, 3 Linnets, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Grasshopper Warbler.
(GB +1,JE,CJ,SPL,CJW,NDW,PSW,SRW,TGW) [390] photos CJ , JE (moths)

10th August 2010

A higher tide today than for some time with wading birds having to vacate the shore for the top of the island (left, Dunlin with a Sanderling). The wind was in the south west first thing but soon veered west and then north west and was quite strong in the early afternoon.

Only a trickle of migrants were found as expected in these conditions including 2 Whitethroats (one was from yesterday), 4 Willow Warblers, a single Wheatear, an out of season Song Thrush, and a slow passage of 38 Swallows.

Good shorebirds were a Golden Plover flying over the west side shore, 2 Common Sandpipers that appeared briefly at the north end, 14 Bar-tailed Godwits including one in summer plumage, 500 Dunlin, 150 Ringed Plover, 4 Sanderling and 2 Grey Plover..

Three Collared Doves were between Red Rocks and the island and also there was the Peregrine sitting on its usual yellow barrel.

The Sandwich Terns are now at about 850 birds, Common Terns are considerably scarcer, while the Black Tern was seen only at 07.15hrs flying strongly away to the south west, it remains to be seen whether it will make any more appearances at Hilbre. Many Gannets were again on the sea but little else although there were 10 Red-breasted Mergansers moving together towards the north shore, and 6 Great Crested Grebes off the west side in flight.

Ringed:- 3 Willow Warblers, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Linnet, 1 Meadow Pipit.

(DB,CJ,CJW et al) [378] photo CJ

9th August 2010

A slow start but the southerly winds with showers brought a good variety of birds to the island today.


A touch of winter came to the summer when a Purple Sandpiper appeared on the north end rocks early in the morning (left), but was not seen after 09.00hrs. This is not without precedence as a single bird sometimes visits mid-summer for a short period, probably to rest on its journey elsewhere (certainly it seemed very keen to feed up), the local wintering flock normally build up from October.

No Manx Shearwaters today but Gannets were fishing as expected, although sea birds were generally scarce with just a single dark phase Arctic Skua (left) close to the north end and the Black Tern with other terns as we have now come to expect.
At high tide 4 Bottle-nosed Dolphins travelled south west down the Dee in two groups of 2 and were well seen breaking the surface from the north end.
Shorebirds included 7 Grey Herons, 12 Whimbrel, and a good find was 2 Golden Plover roosting the tide on the north end of Middle Eye. Also near Middle 5 Wigeon were noted.

A Hobby was glimpsed as a 'mystery' raptor until it showed itself properly by crossing the island from west to east and flushing the waders from Middle Eye.







Swallows totalled 38 but only went through for a very short period until more this evening; the 3 Wheatears present were all on Middle, and the warblers seemed to arrive in response to rain showers, first 2 Willow Warblers and later a Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat.
Ringed:- 2 Willow Warblers, 2 Wrens, 1 Sedge Warbler (above left), 1 Whitethroat (above right, you can see who has been doing all the physical work around the obs today !), 1 Linnet, 1 Meadow Pipit
(DB,CJ,KMc,CJW et al) [372] photos CJ