May 27th

May 27th

It was still,warm and humid at first light this morning, there had clearly been a fair bit of overnight rain. The Swallows prominent yesterday had all cleared out overnight. There was a Yellow Wagtail feeding around Longis pond  and 2 Whimbrel passed over. At about mid day I had 2 Common Terns in Longis Bay. Paul and Catherine Verons’ concerted birding efforts were rewarded with a Turtle Dove on the telegraph wires near Mannez Lighthouse and they had 5 Common Terns past the lighthouse this afternoon.

A rise in migrants today saw 32 new birds ringed almost half of which were Reed Warblers , easily our best day so far for this species.  We ringed our 8ooth Chiffchaff of the Spring  and 20th Spotted Flycatcher, the latter displayed a prominent brood patch. Also ringed, a couple of  recently fledged Robins and our first fledged Swallow.See ringing pages for totals.

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Female Spotted Flycatcher (sexed by wing length)

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2016 hatch Swallow probably fledged within the last day or two

Lastly, I had a Large Tortioseshell butterfly this afternoon along the footpath to Longis bird hide.