Sunday 30 June 2013

Autumn is upon us- passerine migrants, waders, terns and gulls!

An early morning stroll around the Great Orme produced some surprising mid-summer birds. A Whimbrel flying west calling over the limestones was my first of the year up here as were the 3 Arctic Terns past during a short seawatch. The seawatch also produced 12 Manx Shearwaters, a Black Guillemot and several Gannets. No sign today of the Puffin that was seen around the Auk colony on Thursday evening and Friday morning. Passerine Migrants were represented by seven flyover Crossbills and 3 Siskin, while breeding birds included juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Bullfinches, Mistle Thrushes and a family party of Choughs. Not quite sure if spring is lingering or is the start of autumn!

This afternoon, with negative news of the Roseate Tern coming through from the Clwyd, I decided to head west and try the high tide roost at Llanfairfechan Saltmarsh. Several Sandwhich Terns, a few Common Gulls and a cracking Mediterranean Gull in full summer attire was good to see. It also gave me the pleasure of hearing it call several times.


I'm sure this will be the first of many Med Gulls at this site over the next couple of months.

1 comment:

  1. Spotted 1 Med Gull at the Spinnies yesterday and today along with 100+ Gooseander and 1 Kingfisher on the perch for 1 hour in the pond https://twitter.com/ramsgatebirds/status/353602475913248768/photo/1 :-)

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