As it had been more than a
fortnight since my last visit to the patch, I was concerned that I might have
missed out on a few of the commoner summer migrants. I needn’t have worried though, as I managed
to pick up no less than 8 year ticks on Sunday 5 May, including a long overdue
first island record!
On the ferry across I spotted a
fishing boat that was attracting a few large gulls, so I decided to have a
check for any skuas and sure enough a Great
Skua was in tow. The bird must have
been about 4 miles off Rathlin, but this didn’t stop me trying to see it from
dry land. Unfortunately, I’ll have to
leave to off the list for now, as I couldn’t see the boat from Rathlin never
mind the skua!
Regular blog readers may recall a
few posts ago I mentioned that the West Pier area was bound to attract a Black
Redstart someday. I was watching a few White Wagtails feeding amongst the
fresh seaweed at the base of the pier, when a bird popped up onto a rock – a Black Redstart!
(94). A new species for the island list, which now stands at 190. I think I
will throw in a few more predictions in future posts!
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| Patch Mega!
A Sandwich Tern then screeched by the pier and a Light-bellied Brent Goose here was presumably the same bird first
seen on 15 April. I made my way uphill
and saw several flowering Early Purple
Orchids by the Church (in an area I always think looks good for an autumn Ovenbird...).
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As I entered the upper section of
Church Valley, I could hear a Sedge
Warbler (95) in song soon to be joined by a second. Next into song was one of 3 Whitethroats (96) in the area and then a
Grasshopper Warbler (97) began
reeling in the background. This area also held a few Wheatears and 10+ Willow
Warblers.
As I made my way along the high
road towards the east end two Rock Doves
(98) flew over giving good views as they headed towards the north cliffs and a Sparrowhawk looked destined for its own
check of Church Valley. Nothing new was
seen around the east end gardens or cattle fields, but Sedge Warblers seemed to
be everywhere.
Ballycarry Pool is now almost dry
and had attracted the Brent Goose over for a feed. It was interesting to note that two pairs of Teal were still present. The shoreline between Church Bay and Mill Bay
proved more productive with two summer plumaged Dunlin (99) and 5 Whimbrel
(100) in attendance alongside further Wheatears and White Wagtails.
I had already scanned Ushet Lough
and made my way to the marsh at its south end, before I heard Black-tailed Godwits (101) calling from
nearby. I finally managed to spot 12 cracking
summer plumaged Icelandic race birds feeding along the west shoreline. Only the second time I’ve recorded this
species on the island.
I seawatched from Ushet Port for
half an hour, seeing several Manx
Shearwaters moving east and 10 Whimbrel moving south.
A great number and variety of
migrants were on the island today and the final tallies for the patch were:
4 Chiffchaff, 28 Willow Warbler, 1 Sandwich Tern, 25 Wheatears
(mostly now Greenland birds), 1 Black Redstart, 1 Brent Goose, 12 White Wagtail,
13 Sedge Warbler, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 5 Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 20+ Swallow, 1
House Martin, 8+ Sand Martin, 2 Dunlin, 15 Whimbrel, 12
Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Common
Sandpiper.
If only I could find a Moorhen!
Score now 101 species, 126 points
or 99.21%
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