20th June 2011 – bright and sunny W1
Offshore
The calm seas only yielded small numbers of Gannet, Guillemot and Common Scoter early morning.
Grounded Migrants
A surprising selection of grounded migrants for the time of the year with 3 Willow Warbler and single Blackcap and Redstart – ringing showed that most were females with brood patches and were presumably failed breeders already heading south – not a good sign.
Diurnal Migration
A Grey Wagtail provided further evidence of some early autumn movement.
Wildfowl and Waders
Waders are also beginning to return and the monthly WeBS count included 2100 Oystercatcher, 321 Curlew, 36 Turnstone, 23 Redshank, 9 Dunlin, 7 Grey Plover and 5 Knot.
Butterflies and Moths
The first Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Meadow Brown are now on the wing and the moth trap attracted the first Drinker of the year amongst a plague of White Satin. However field observation provided the highlights with the first known records of Nemophera degeerella for the island and the continued presence of Burnet Companion following the first sightings in 2010.
Dragonflies
Rather remiss in the reporting of dragonflies recently, however, good numbers of Four-spotted Chaser, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly and Large Red Damselfly have been recorded.
