8th October 2017

Weather: W force 1

 A nice calm morning with 3 Goldcrests and 10 Robins on the island and a small passage of Skylarks (12, 6, and another 12), about 30 Meadow Pipits and 2 Grey Wagtails.

Two female type Eiders floated on the sea

Herring Gulls fed on a small wreck of starfish

Three Rock Pipits were noted

Other records today included 2 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Little Egrets, a Grey Heron and a Kestrel.

 Ringed: 1 Goldcrest, 3 Robins, 1 Wren       [ 591-34 ]   Photos AEH

6th October 2017

Weather: NNW force 3     vis 20 miles

A much calmer dawn on the islands today saw a great reduction in seabird numbers, as expected. Only 650 Common Scoter were recorded along with 2 Great Crested Grebe, a Razorbill, then a single Guillemot in the gutter. Forty five Shelduck were on the tide edge as it ebbed and 35 Brent Geese were on the sea West of Middle. The roost on Middle consisted of 4,500 Oystercatcher, 70 Curlew, 100 Herring Gull and a single Bar Tailed Godwit. Other waders included 140 Redshank and 10 Turnstone (mainly in a small roost in Niffy Bay), 18 Sanderling and 16 Grey Plover.

The Blackcap ringed yesterday was still present and a male Blackbird was in the Obs garden early, (the  first for some time and hopefully there will be more thrushes moving in the next few weeks), along with a couple of Goldcrests and a loudly singing Robin (at least 7 Robins were on the island). Other passerines included 2 Goldfinch, 4 Rock Pipit at the North end and 40 Meadow Pipits, 2 Skylark flew over. The Kestrel was again present.

 

Ringed: 2 Goldcrests, 1 Wren, 1 Robin         [ 586-34 ]      photos  JE(Goldcrest), AS(others)

5th October 2017

Weather: NW force 6 mostly clear and sunny

Another day of sea watching over the tide which again was most productive. The first Leach's petrel that was seen on arrival from the obs balcony heralded the steady passage of a total of 18 during the morning.

Five Arctic Skuas were about albeit fairly distant, but bird of the day was a Pomarine Skua heading west at medium distance after being briefly mobbed by an Arctic Skua and giving good views.

Terns still captured observers attention with 4 Common Terns, 2 Arctic Terns and 2 Black Terns but amazingly Sandwich Tern which has been the most numerous this week was entirely absent.

Guillemots and Razorbills have also featured in large numbers recently but today there were less than a couple of dozen, likewise Gannets (44) were also down on other days.

Common Scoter are still well into a few thousand present but despite many giving closer views no rarer species could be found.

Three Eiders were noted including 2 drakes which pitched in off the north end.

The sea watch included 5 Golden Plovers flying west and more than a dozen Meadow Pipits arriving 'in off'. A couple of Goldcrests in the gardens were not much of a surprise on a north westerly but a young male Blackcap caught and ringed was.

Ringed: 1 Blackcap      [582-34]

4th October 2017

Weather:  NW 5-6, 6/8 cloud, moderate vis, decreasing later

The morning centred around seawatching again with a reasonable blow overnight keeping expectation levels up.

The seawatch took a while to get going although there were still plenty of Gannets (75), Common Scoter (3,500+) and Cormorants to look at.

A couple of Red-breasted Merganser were noted along with 7 Red-throated Diver, 12 Great Crested Grebe, but only a single Kittiwake today.  Auk numbers had also reduced significantly with only 14 Guillemot and 3 Razorbill counted. An immature Eider drifted out on the ebbing tide.

As expected in early October there were not large numbers of terns but six each of Sandwich and Common, along with two Arctic Terns and a single obliging Black Tern which was probably the highlight of seawatch as it spent at least 30 minutes just off the slipway at the North End bouncing backwards and forwards in the wind and dipping onto the sea's surface (see above and below).

Meanwhile, juvenile Gannets kept coming in very close to the hide one even taking a temporary rest on the sea just below the old Lifeboat Station.

Two Bonxies were the only skuas noted with one bird lingering on the water and the other powering through westwards (see below) showing no weakness in the face of a stiff wind.

Three more Leach's Petrels were noted all from high tide onwards.  With the wind strengthening and increasing rainfall overnight observers will be keen to see what is blown in tomorrow.

  

Pale-bellied Brents were clearly taking advantage of the north westerly airflow and arriving from Iceland with 41 counted as the tide dropped (60 having been noted on West Kirby salt marsh at high tide). 

3rd October 2017

Weather; NW force 6

The change in wind direction from west yesterday to north west today subtly altered the composition of the species seen on the high tide today, auks were down from over 1,000 to 95, Common Scoter from 7,000 to 5,000, Gannets 500 to 116, Sandwich Tern 47 to 25, and Common Tern 37 to 2.

In compensation however two Black Terns were found immediately on arrival and 4 others during the period and together with 2 Arctic Terns made the unusual total of four tern species on a Hilbre October day.

Other additions were 4 Leach's Petrels, 5 Manx Shearwaters and a Mediterranean Gull. The pick of the other sea birds were 4 Eiders (including a drake), 3 Arctic Skuas, 3 Fulmars, a Red-breasted Merganser and 7 Red-throated Divers (but not the Black-throated Diver of yesterday).

A rare sight on the sea were three Ruff flying at a distance, while waders counted on the shore included 117 Curlew and 18 Bar-tailed Godwit. During the tide a total 60 Meadow Pipits came in from the north in small parties over the sea, as did 2 Pied Wagtails and 3 Skylarks. Also braving the wind were 5 Goldfinches, while already on the ground were 2 Goldcrests and a Wheatear.

We helped visitor Irene who slipped by Middle (and had a suspected fractured wrist), and her husband Mike off the island after the tide, we hope she is ok.

Ringed: Goldcrest            [ 581-34]

What will tomorrow bring to the islands?

2nd October 2017

Weather: West force 7, gusting to 8 at times.

Another early start for observers but instead of searching for autumn migrants, the strong Westerly wind meant only one thing - a sea watch. A four hour stint over the high tide, with a further afternoon session produced some huge counts of birds plus a few scarcities. Scoter moved the whole time near the wind farm with an estimate of 7000 birds seen. Gannets appeared in numbers with a total of 500 recorded during the morning. 

Auks moved in small parties throughout the period with estimates of 500 Guillemot & 400 Razorbill with many others too far out to specifically identify. 

There were still good numbers of terns for so late in the year with 47 Sandwich & 37 Common counted. Just 6 Great Crested Grebes was a surprisingly low count. One Black-throated & one Red-throated Divers were off the north end with 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Eider, 1 Brent Goose and a Bonxie. 

Two Golden Plover were a surprise during the sea watch.

Understandably, given the weather, passerines were scarce although a few Goldcrests called from cover (presumably birds that have arrived over the last few days), two Swallows came in off, a Wheatear was on at first light before quickly moving on & a Skylark was on Middle with the Meadow Pipits.
Photos AS

1st October 2017

Weather: S force 2, light rain early

Eight more Goldcrests were on the island this morning but there were no Chiffchaffs in overnight. Some of the Goldcrests were seen to arrive in off the sea and cling to the cliffs and the rocks.  

Three Wheatears were found, a party of 5 Skylarks went through and 3 others included an individual down at the north end.

For once Grey Herons(5) outnumbered Little Egrets(3), 5 Wigeon flew west between the islands, both Peregrine and Kestrel were present, a flock of 9 Sanderling flew over the sea where 5 late Sandwich Terns fed off the east side, and a brief visit to the north end found 3 Guillemots and 5 Razorbills in close view.

A second visit to the obs in the evening found that the Brent have suddenly increased to 15 birds.

Ringed: 3 Goldcrests.                                              [ 580-34 ]
photos : AEH (Goldcrest), CJ (others)