Today produced relatively few birds compared to yesterdays rush of migrants. Perhaps the large numbers of birds we experienced were moving ahead of the prolonged rain we had overnight last night and into this morning, and most took the opportunity of the clear skies at dusk to move on again ahead of the coming storm. The 6 Shelduck were still present in Longis Bay today as were at least 5 Whimbrel and a single Redshank (not a regular bird on Alderney) There were few migrants about but I did see a female Siskin in Barrackmasters Lane and Paul and Catherine Veron had a Tree Pipit in Mannez Quarry.
The ringing was started late due to rain after which 19 new birds were ringed. These included 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Reed Warbler, 3 Sedge Warbler, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Chiffchaff and 9 Blackcap.
Closing the nets at mid day gave me the chance to catch up on the ringing totals that you can now view via the Ringing Totals tab on the home page. I’m very pleased to say the totals are now completely up to date and back dated for day totals and individual species totals back to our start date of 4th March 16′(which feels like several years ago !)
I’ve been meaning find time to post photos of the bird added below that we processed at the Obs 22nd April. Whilst the majority of Willow Warblers have fitted the general bird guide yellows/greens and whites of Ssp trocholis there have also been a number of very washed out grey looking individuals suggesting we are also seeing plenty of Ssp acredula but this one really stood out with its chocolate brown flight feathers and tail, I wonder could it be Ssp Yakutensis? Comments welcome.
Willow Warbler – Essex farm
Our dog Ike on the Observatory ramparts helping me watch for migrants across from France and Waders in Longis Bay today