Well it seemed that Spring had certainly arrived in style this morning. An early morning arrival to monitor Lapwings revealed a large amount of visible migration going on. As I've noted before, this site can be very good in south-westerly winds with birds passing west along the coast, presumably following the northern edge of Snowdonia. A lot of finches and pipits passed within the first hour from 7.45, and as the morning progressed the numbers of hirundines and wagtails seemed to increase. It was so strange as I only saw my first Swallow on Thursday! From 7.45 to 13.00 whilst monitoring nesting Lapwings I counted a minimum of 550 Swallow, 250 Sand Martin, 25 House Martin, 650 Goldfinch, 80 Linnet, 20 Siskin, 15 Chaffinch, 1 Brambling, 230 Meadow Pipit, 1 Tree Pipit, 45 'alba' Wagtail and a Skylark. Best bird of the morning was a superb male Lapland Bunting in near summer plumage which landed briefly in front of the east hide with Meadow Pipits. 'Grounded' migrants around the reserve included 13 Wheatear (2 'Greenland' type), 1 Whimbrel, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Shoveler, 25 Teal, 6 Snipe, 1 Greenshank and 2 Lesser Redpoll. A 1st summer Mediterranean Gull was on the beach and 20 Gannets and a few Sandwich Terns were offshore.
On the Lapwing front, there are between 30 and 35 pairs on the whole site. The warmer weather seems to have given them back their 'mojo' and I have noted up to 10 sitting birds today. As with other birds, its going to be a late breeding season for them. A great morning's birding!
Superb David. I was in a school in Llanfairfechan all morning and was watching the constant stream of Hirundines passing west - brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThis evening there were four cracking male Ring Ouzels on the Great Orme- in the hawthorns along the stone wall.