By Emma Abel
The day started out grey and wet, and yet an Osprey had already been spotted before I even had my breakfast! It was heading North along the East coast, being chased off by all the gulls in the area.
Over on the West I headed out to Aztec to monitor Guillemots and Kittiwakes. It was good to see birds back on the cliffs and looking more settled. Kittiwakes were gathering nesting material from the grassy slopes together and some pairs have made good progress in constructing their nests on the precarious cliff shelves. Guillemots were also back in highest numbers I have seen at Aztec, with 323 in my plot (compared to a big fat zero last week!). My monitoring was accompanied by the soundtrack of singing Grey Seals, as there were three hauled out in a cave with their mournful calls echoing around the bay.
Aztec Bay by Emma Abel
Then just as the sun emerged, I headed to Jenny's Cove for a warm afternoon of seabird station and chatting to visitors. I met up with Greg to walk back and two minutes later we saw a female Black Redstart flitting around the rocks. She was very fidgety, not sitting still for long periods and hiding behind every rock between us and her, but it did mean we got a nice show of her beautiful rufous tail feathers. As we continued our walk back we saw many Painted Lady butterflies with the total over the island reaching 30 for today.
Female Black Redstart by Emma Abel
In other Bird News, Greg spotted Sunday's Golden Oriole which is hanging around and popping up in various locations around the island. Another returning rarity was the Tufted Duck that was diving on Pondsbury again today. A male Whinchat and a Redstart were also highlights hiding in the Heather. Four showy Golden Plovers were also in Barton Field. On the insect front, at least two Green Tiger Beetles and 38 Painted Ladies were counted.
Golden Plover by Greg Lee