Friday, September 5, 2008

4th September, 2008.

A glorious day throughout!! Light and variable winds and fantastic visibility out over the sea.
Several hours seawatching brought little despite a light northerly wind at commencement. This soon faded with a SW occasional breeze noted afterwards for a while. Whilst Gannets and Manx Shearwater, as so often before, were mainly moving south others were circling out at sea suggesting all birds were on feeding movements. Small numbers of LBBG, Kittiwake and Fulmar and odd waders ( Oystercatcher and Redshank )flew south but no real imperative was behind the passage. A single Red-throated Diver sped south by contrast.

The most exciting occurence was a small party of Grey lag Geese which came in high from the NW, passed by southwards and then swung in a direct line bound for Ireland. Earlier than anticipated this is certainly evidence that we do receive, or witness, this species moving southwards in autumn. It will now be fascinating to see if further birds swell the numbers of the congregated flocks counted on Tuesday. Despite a continuing vigil these proved to be the only birds involved!!

14 Chough around the house later in the day were very mobile and noisy and finally gathered together and moved off northwards.

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