A lovely surprise first thing this morning with a pair of Merlins doing a low-level high-speed pass along the top of Renny’s Slip and then down the Deer Park wall. The male was first, and so small that my immediate thought was “what’s that very large Sand Martin?” (Given the striking facial pattern), before getting the proper sense of perspective and size with the female.
Yesterday was notable, as Derek pointed out, for a passage of Blackcaps: his description of very tired birds is spot on. The most I counted at once was 9, but they were moving through steadily most of the day, accompanied by smaller numbers of Willow Warblers.
And our first two garden Whitethroats of the year: now 39 on the List!
As for Wheatears, probably a dozen in the Car Park field, and displaying all along the fence lines and on the wall. I did not see any that were undisputably Greenland-type birds, but they were all smart.
A quick note on the Swallows, following an email from Trevor Theobald.
- The public toilets in Martin’s Haven, as in so many other areas, have been shut during the lockdown, preventing the Swallows using their traditional (and highly-photographed) nest site.
- The Skomer MCZ team have kindly opened up the access hatch to the display centre, which has been used in previous years. Let’s see if the Swallows dare use that without their normal ability to do a recce through the open doors first.
- We have also put up a small roof extension and ledge on our sheds, but this may be a trifle too exposed for the birds.
