by Greg Lee
A quieter feel to census this morning with a lot of activity seemingly reduced, certainly for commoner species such as Starlings and Gulls. Whether there was a genuine reason for this is unclear. There certainly hadn’t been a big wave of migrants, with another light showing of Willow Warblers, numbering 14 across the entire census route and other species being a little bit on the scarce side. Insect-wise, it was a very good display though with lots of Hummingbird Hawk-moths and Painted Ladies on the wing. A knackered Clouded Yellow caught my eye in Millcombe, but posed well for photography, whilst a much fresher individual exhibited more classic Clouded Yellow behaviour and was zipping over the grassland at a speed much to great for me to follow for a perched photograph, now I’ve discovered my manual focusing hack on my lens! A Tree Pipit buzzing over caught my ear near Benjamin’s Chair, the first of the autumn for this fairly infrequent migrant. Otherwise, a Mallard flushed near the Gorse at Quarter Wall was a rare addition to my recent census counts and a Sedge Warbler on the wire next to a Linnet determined that I wouldn’t leave the notepad empty of its BTO code. The main event was heading down to the jetty, where we welcomed a group of visiting birders/ringers for the week who are coming to stay on the island and do lots of various activities and we also welcomed Kirsty, who ia back as the seal volunteer for the next couple of months. As the Oldenburg pulled in, an immature Black-headed Gull was a bonus, seemingly moving in front of the Oldenburg before disappearing northward. Although a few had been reported recently, I had failed to see any on census, so this was a nice bird to see.
Clouded Yellow by G.Lee
Once we had met all our visitors, we took them up to the Village to show them around before letting everyone go and explore the island in the sun and get settled. As evening drew in, Emma and I went to set up the moth-trap in Millcombe, it didn't take very long for the moths to come in with the good conditions, one of which was hulking great female Oak Eggar, always a chunky addition to the August moth-trap! Here's for a good week full of interesting sightings and activities!