8th September 2010

A south easterly in September is never to be ignored, but the clear sky overhead did not seem hopeful, on arrival at West Kirby however it was obvious there was fog down the Welsh coast and to the south. The island was seen to be alive with phyloscopus warblers, an estimated 100 Willow Warblers and 40 Chiffchaffs were grounded during the morning giving the ringers their hardest work this year, indeed the best single day for a few years.
If this wasn't enough excitement at 08.30hrs a large finch flew over the sk paddock travelling north and calling, then turned and landed briefly on the Blackthorn hedge on the cliff edge south of the trap before flying off to the south. It was clearly identified as a Common Rosefinch, the second new bird for the island seen this week following the Stone-Curlew on Monday.

Apart from the Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs, the only other warblers present were single Blackcap, Whitethroat and Garden Warbler (right), but other migrants included 4 Greenfinches, 3 Grey Wagtails, 2 Greenland Wheatears, a Reed Bunting and about 100 Swallows.
A Goldcrest (below right) also present was the first ringed this year and only the third seen following the lack of any of these birds in the spring.

Not much time for sea-watching although 4 Little Terns were seen off the west side, but shorebirds noted were 1200 Dunlin, 30 Knot, 100 Ringed Plover and 2 Greenshanks (left) feeding on the east side side early in the morning before being disturbed. Ten Carrion Crows today around the buildings was exceptional.

Ringed :-

39 Willow Warblers
20 Chiffchaffs
1 Goldcrest
1 Robin
1 Garden Warbler
1 Blackcap

(DB,CJ,KMc, et al) [515] photos CJ

7th September 2010

A day with thundery showers in the afternoon did not see much action 0n the ground, just single Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, and a Greenland Wheatear on middle, but an unusual very early autumn record of a Blackbird.
Shore counts of 6,000 Oystercatchers and 260 Sanderling were excellent as were an exceptional 10 Little Egrets present around the islands.
(DB)

6th September 2010

Off the island this morning due to work and other commitments (and the incoming tide) by 08.00hrs but plenty of time to check whether any warblers had landed overnight, but they hadn't. Swallows came battling through in small numbers against the very strong south easterly wind, and autumn duck again appeared - 6 Pintail, 4 Teal and a Wigeon (left), also Shelducks are now building up with 22 counted today.
Sandwich Terns, about 500, were feeding vigorously down both sides of the island into the wind and it was pleasing to see 3 Little terns hovering over the east side gutter (right) as these seemed to have lost the habit this year.
There was not much time to spend scanning the shore but 2 Little Egrets, 12 Bar-tailed Godwits on the east hoyle and 50 Sanderling at the west side tide edge were noted also 8 Common Scoters and 4 Great Crested Grebes on the sea.
Ringed :- nil
(CJ,KMc,SRW) photos CJ
Latest:- After the tide at 13.15hrs a Stone Curlew was flushed from the south end of the island near the slipway, it flew off towards Wales. This is the first record for Hilbre. (DB).
Other records from later in the afternoon included the yellow and white colour ringed Little Egret ( also seen at Heswall recently), a single Willow Warbler, a Greenshank, and 1 Teal with 5 Wigeon.

5th September 2010

A blustery south-easterly certainly blew any cobwebs away this morning for those that made the early tide. However, there was little in the way of passerine migration other than the odd Willow Warbler that took cover in the dense areas of bracken.

The rising tide produced several typical September wildfowl - strangely all in threes - Teal, Wigeon and Pintail. The North End produced some noteworthy records early in the day with a Guillemot out of the water (see left) and a couple of Grey Seals also taking advantage of a break from the wind north west of the slipway (see right).

At 9.15am waders and terns alerted observers to the possible presence of a raptor and the fact that these were joined in the air by gulls and then the Cormorants took flight from the East Hoyle suggested the raptor was a 'big one'. An Osprey was soon spotted drifting in from the north-east (see above). It flew slowly between the Obs and Red Rocks a couple of hundred feet up, it momentarily looked downwards as if considering whether to fish the low tide before re-considering and turning westwards and heading over Middle Island and off towards Wales.

A single Little Tern was found amongst still numerous (c250) Sandwich and a few Commons, these were occassionally harranged by up to 3 Arctic Skuas (nine were seen yesterday over the tide). Wader numbers were lower than recently due to the lower tides but a young Peregrine still hunted the island and gave occasional good views (see below).

A single new Robin was caught and ringed and later in the afternoon one of the Willow Warblers found its way into the SK.

[PSW, SRW, TGW & JE (briefly)] [452] Photos SRW (Osprey) others PSW

4th September 2010

Still south easterly but a stonger breeze this morning and first signs were not good becuase only a couple of Willow Warblers were seen in the early look around the island. A steady trickle of Swallows soon started to move, a Wheatear was on Middle and 2 Yellow Wagtails came down to the ground at the north end (left). Yellow Wagtails are fairly unusual here in autumn but they were later joined by another and were still touring the island near to midday.

An observer at the lookout saw a Treecreeper arrive from the sea and sit on the wall nearby and then feed in the sycamores in the rangers rear garden (above). Treecreepers are very rare at Hilbre, and therefore the bird attracted much attention and was eventually seen to enter the 'heli' trap where it was caught and ringed. Another trickle of Willow Warblers and a Whitethroat landed and more Swallows and 3 House Martins passed through during the morning.

Sea watching was reasonable despite the contrary wind direction, 3 Arctic Skuas chased the terns, 40+ Gannets fished, 8 Common Scoters flew east, and 5 Little Terns, 1 juvenile (right) and 2 adult Kittiwakes were seen.

Counts from the shore were:- 12 Bar-tailed Godwits, 13 Ringed Plover, 6 Sanderling and 1 Whimbrel.

Ringed:- 4 Willow Warblers, 1 Robin, 1 Treecreeper.

(FD,CJ,DNW,CJW,SRW, NW,EW, +CD,CEW) [450] photos CJ, CD

3rd September 2010

Talk this morning was of the Icterine Warbler in Cheshire yesterday and a Barred Warbler seen at Hoylake early today and although there were no such rarities found at Hilbre, it was still a good steady migration day. The second Spotted Flycatcher of the autumn (right) arrived early with one or two Willow Warblers, a Chiffchaff and a Whitethroat (below right), and later in the morning another influx of Willow Warblers appeared. A slow passage of Swallows all morning was accompanied by a single Sand Martin and towards midday 30 House Martins crossed over the observatory garden. Typical autumn species seen included 2 Common Snipe, a Greenshank, 15 Canada Geese travelling east and 2 Goldfinches about the gardens (left, adults in main moult), but there was no sign of yesterdays autumn bird (the Firecrest). Only a single Wheatear showed despite the apparently ideal conditions.

Three Little Egrets were on the shore and 2 Whimbrel were still with them, also a Grey Plover was noted, these being scarce lately.

Ten Gannets were noted on the sea, also 5 Common Scoters flew passed distantly, one which seemed considerably larger than the others and caused some discussion.

Quite a good day, and with more south easterlies to come, things could get even better.

Ringed:- 7 Willow Warblers, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Whitethroat, 2 Goldfinches, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Wren.

(DB,JE,ME+HW,CJ,NDW,CJW,PSW,MFW,DGW,RTW) [444) photos CJ

2nd September 2010

Wouldn't you know it ! The first day in weeks when there was no obs presence on the island, a Firecrest is reported at Hilbre on the information services. Several members organised themselves to get across to see if many other migrants had arrived last night, searching all the likely areas in turn and including the rangers garden (with permission) where the Firecrest had first been seen. The bird was duly in the garden happily feeding in the sycamore and privets, but later it flew to the old obs garden where a mist net was in place and the bird captured itself and was taken back to be ringed. The Firecrest was a first year bird, probably a male and looked splendid in the hand, it is the earliest autumn Firecrest at Hilbre by 2 days and we now have had as many Firecrests this autumn as Goldcrests ! let's hope there will be a passage of Goldcrests yet to come.

Other birds seen on the brief visit :- a Common Snipe, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler, and 3 Little Egrets.

Ringed:- 1 Firecrest, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler.

(BSB,CJ +VB,CJW et al) [430] photos CJ

1st September 2010

With very light winds varying between south, south east, north and north east it turned out to be another beautiful and warm day, which however did not produce many new birds on the ground but there was evidence of passage with about 60 Meadow Pipits flying around the island, 2 Tree Pipits heard with 3 Grey, 1 White and 9 Pied Wagtails seen overhead and 55 Swallows passing through. Two Chiffchaffs and a long staying Willow Warbler were in the gardens with a few new Robins continuing the run of these birds this last few days. The Chiffchaffs in the last week have been calling with what sounds like the dialect of the northern race abietinus, as were the birds ringed today (right), although young birds do not always make the typical call.
The only large warbler was a Whitethroat found on Middle Eye, also on its own was the Greenland Wheatear (left) which however, fed at the potter traps and was ringed.






Off shore not a lot of note, 2 Little Egrets, 2 Guillemots, with single Red-throated Diver, Whimbrel (left), and a RAF 'Hawk' trainer being the highlights.

Butterflies included Speckled Wood,Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell (right) and Small White.
One of the important findings recently was the proof of breeding of the Vapourer Moth (left) at Hilbre.
A cocoon of the moth was found in the winter and again this month in the Blackthorn with eggs and the moth itself has now been seen several times including twice today. Vapourer moths are diurnal, but will come to light at night and are not uncommon on the mainland. The male (see photo) is quite distinctive but the female is nondescript and flightless.
Ringed:- 3 Meadow Pipits, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Greenland Wheatear, 1 Robin.
(DB,CJ,CLW,NDW,TGW,CJW,GIW, et al) [427] photos CJ, NDW(Small Tortoiseshell),TGW(Vapourer Moth).