By Greg Lee
Today saw the start of some stronger winds from the west that are due to dominate the next week or so as enter into September, my favourite month of the year. After what has been quite the ending to August with a nice mix of scarcities being discovered across the island, it was a quieter end to the month. My census this morning was marked by Robins being the commonest migrant across the island, the noisy ticking from the bushes being quite the feature in Millcombe, with some birds even breaking out into song, as territorial as they are. Two Pied Flycatchers, a single Spotted Flycatcher and a Whinchat at Rocket Pole where also notable sightings, with another three of the latter being located at other areas of the island throughout the day. A noisy Yellow Wagtail was over the Village, having had a few birds moving through over the past couple of weeks and often landing in Barton field. A Sparrowhawk has been around the island for the past few days, though encounters are quite brief, today it zipped over lower Millcombe presumably looking for unwary and tired arrivals to take. Although I always take the time to gaze out to sea on census, I have been struggling to spot many seabirds as of late with very few Gannets moving offshore and Manx Shearwaters also becoming thin on the ground. Still, fortune favours the brave and perhaps a Skua or something else will pass through my binoculars one morning this autumn. Interestingly, a large influx of Painted Ladies seems to have occurred over the past couple of days, with many fresh-looking butterflies around the island.
Later on, with the bank holiday, it was time for the second duck race of the year, this time with a rather extravagant course using water from Rocket Pole Pond built by Ian, Rich, Roger and Emma. After a decent performance in spring, I was hoping that I might achieve a similar finish. That wasn’t the case though with a final finish of seventh out of 13, though holding champion Emma saw a poor title defence coming ninth overall. A new champion was on the scene however, with Sarah and "librarian duck" taking the victory on its debut. A very impressive pedigree clearly.