Fresh back from Shetland and with no immediate jobs that needed sorting at home I spent the day at Hilbre manning the Obs over the tide. Arriving in pouring rain I seriously began to regret my decision and even toyed with the idea of leaving before the high tide but decided to stick it out. I'm glad I did as it turned out to be a beautiful Autumn day.
A quick round of the heligoland traps revealed there were a handful of Goldcrests on the island along with a couple of Robins and a ringed Chiffchaff presumably ringed the previous day by Steve). With the wind dying right down I put a mist net up in the Obs garden and between this and the heligoland traps managed to ring two new Goldcrests - a male and a female.
 |
| Male Goldcrest |
 |
| Female Goldcrest. |
A real surprise was a male Stonechat that appeared at the north end of the island over the high tide and promptly disappeared down the east side where it probably relocated to Middle Eye.
A couple of Skylarks anded briefly on the island in the middle of the pond and a Snipe made an unexpected landing over the high tide on the Landrover track before relocating to the pond. With a few Chaffinches overhead, several Goldfinches on the island and a small passage of Meadow Pipits 'in off' as well it made for a lovely day.
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
| Wren |
 |
| Robin |
Wader numbers are slowly building up and good numbers of Redshank and Turnstone roosted on the old walls in Niffy Bay. Still no Purple Sandpipers yet though.
A seal that hauled put on the rocks below the SK heligoland had me questioning my identification later when I reviewed my photos on a larger screen. I was expecting Grey Seal but it was actually a Common Seal. Scarcer than the Greys on Hilbre and rarely seen around the island.
As the tide receded far enough for me to drive off I managed to photograph one of our colour ringed Rock Pipit, CCB, which we hadn't recorded since August this year. Two Little Egrets fishing in the channel were seemingly unfazed by the Landrover and allowed me to approach quite close.
From a less than promising start the day turned out to be quite good and it continues our coverage for the year.
No comments :
Post a Comment