Saturday 14th August – Friday 20th August.

Intro:

Skua season!!!

Seabirds:

The week started with some slight-moderate NW winds that brought an early start to the skua season.  Whilst recognising that it is likely that there will have been some duplication in daily counts as birds travel west around the coast, 10 Arctic and 11 Great Skuas was nonetheless a good start.  Of the 10 Arctic, 1 was seen from Point Lynas (14^th), 1 from Llam Carw, Amlwch Port (15^th), 3 from Point Lynas (16^th), 2 from Octel, Amlwch Port (16^th), 1 from Bull Bay (16^th) and 2 from Cemlyn (16^th).  The bulk of the Greats were seen on the same day (16^th), with 6 past Point Lynas, 3 past Cemlyn and 1 past Bull Bay; 1 was then seen at Cemlyn (18^th).  Amongst the many Manx Shearwater there were a few gems, with 3 sightings of Balearic Shearwater with 1 past Point Lynas (14^th), 1 past South Stack (16^th) and 1 past Point Lynas (16^th).   6381 Manx Shearwater were counted past South Stack in a 2hr seawatch (16^th).  There were 16 Black Guillemots in Holyhead Bay (16^th) and a further 2 birds flew past Cemlyn (16^th).

Waders:

Another good week for waders.  A Wood Sandpiper was seen at RSPB Cors Ddyga (15^th), which is likely to have been the same bird as last week.  Three Green Sandpipers were seen with a bird on the old brickworks pool, Traeth Dulas (14^th) and then on the river (15^th), 1 at Cemlyn (16^th) with a further bird at RSPB Cors Ddyga (17^th).  Up to 5 Common Sandpiper were at the Alaw estuary (5 on 15^th, 4 on 18^th) with 2 birds at Cemlyn (20^th) and 1 at Traeth Dulas (18^th-20^th).  A European Golden Plover was at Traeth Dulas (19^th), with another at Cemlyn (20^th) and a Grey Plover was on the Alaw estuary (20^th).  The number of Dunlin have increased with up to 105 birds at the Alaw estuary (105 on 15^th, 84 on 18^th) and up to 32 birds at Traeth Dulas (32 on 19^th, 22 on 16^th).  Likewise, the number of Ringed Plover are up with up to 142 birds at the Alaw estuary (142 on 15^th, 103 on 18^th) and up to 89 birds at Traeth Dulas (89 on 18^th, 62 on 16^th).  The Alaw estuary held up to 23 Knot (23 on 19^th, 21 on 18^th, 1 on 20^th) and up to 11 Sanderling (11 on 18^th, 2 on 15^th, 1 on 19^th, 2 on 20^th); a single Sanderling was at Traeth Dulas (18^th).  While Turnstones have been present on rocky coastline such as Cemlyn for a while, this week brought a few records from estuarine sites including 4 on the Alaw estuary (15^th) and 1 at Traeth Dulas (16^th).  Sightings of Common Snipe included 1 at the Alaw estuary (15^th & 18^th) and 1 at RSPB Cors Ddyga.

It was a good week for Black-tailed Godwits with 12 birds on the Inland Sea (20^th), 9 birds at RSPB Cors Ddyga (17^th), 6 birds on the Alaw estuary (6 on 18^th, 1 on 15^th), 5 birds at Cemlyn (16^th), up to 2 birds at Traeth Dulas (2 on 17^th, 1 15^th- 20^th) and 1 bird at Malltraeth cob pool (16^th).  There were up to 15 Bar-tailed Godwit at the Alaw estuary (15 on 19^th, 12 on 18^th, 8 on 15^th) and 1 at Traeth Dulas (15^th -16^th).

Sightings of Greenshank included up to 16 birds at the Alaw estuary (16 on 15^th, 12 on 18^th, 9 on 20^th) and 1 at Traeth Dulas (17^th).  The number of Redshank continue to increase with up to 35 birds at the Alaw estuary (35 on 19^th, 27 on 15^th, 16 on 18^th), 22 birds at Malltraeth cob pool (16^th) and 5 birds at Traeth Dulas (17^th).  Whimbrel were thin on the ground with up to 2 on the Alaw estuary (2 on 20^th, 2 on 18^th, 1 on 15^th) and 2 on the Inland Sea (17^th).  There were 156 Curlew at Traeth Dulas (17^th), with up to 120 birds at the Alaw estuary (120 on 20^th, 97 on 18^th, 72 on 15^th) and c. 80 birds on the Inland Sea (17^th).  There were up to 259 Oystercatcher at the Alaw estuary (259 on 15^th, 206 on 18^th).

Gulls and Terns:

A Little Gull was seen on the rocks at Octel, Amlwch (16^th), with another seen to fly up the Dulas estuary (16^th).  Sightings of Mediterranean Gulls included up to 53 birds on the Alaw estuary (53 on 16^th, 42 on 18^th, 5 on 20^th), 10 on the Inland Sea (17^th), an adult at Traeth Dulas (20^th) and a white darvic ringed juvenile 35PV at Traeth Dulas (15^th).  It was ringed in the Netherlands on the 01/07/21 at Zwarts eiland, Ventjagersplaten (Haringvliet), Den Bommel; Goeree-Overflakkee.  Traeth Dulas also had a black darvic ringed Black-headed Gull (20^th), with a white inscription of 2CTA which had been ringed as a pullus at Marsh Lane Nature Reserve, Meriden, West Midlands on the 01/06/2018.  It was its first sighting after having being ringed.  A good number of Kittiwake are passing offshore, with 810 counted from Cemlyn (18^th).

Raptors:

A Red Kite was seen over Llangaffo (16^th) and 2 Marsh Harriers were at RSPB Cors Ddyga (17^th).  A Sparrowhawk with young were at the Malltraeth cob (17^th).  A Little Owl was at The Range, near Holyhead (14^th).

Swans, Geese & Ducks:

There were 38 Mute Swans on the Cefni reservoir (17^th).  Further evidence of returning waterfowl came in the form of increased numbers of Teal with 8 birds on the Alaw estuary (15^th), 9 birds at RSPB Cors Ddyga (17^th), 6 birds on the mitigation pool, Inland Sea (17^th) and 28 birds on the Inland Sea (20^th).  There were 3 Wigeon on the Cefni reservoir (17^th), a single Shoveler on Malltraeth cob pool (16^th), 4 Gadwall at RSPB Cors Ddyga (17^th) and 104 Coot at the Cefni reservoir (17^th).  Seawatching in the early part of the week produced Common Scoter as might have been expected, with 11 birds past Llam Carw, Amlwch Port (15^th) and 7+ past Cemlyn (15^th).

Herons, Egrets and allies:

A Cattle Egret was reported at RSPB Cors Ddyga (17^th), with 2 Great Egrets (17^th) also being seen at the site.  Little Egrets are now a well-established part of the island’s avifauna, with good counts of 30 birds at the Pentraeth end of Red Wharf Bay (16^th), 20 birds on the Bodorgan side of the Cefni estuary (16^th) and 8 birds at Traeth Dulas (17^th).

Divers & Grebes:

A Great Northern Diver flew past Cemlyn (16^th) and was the 1^st for the 2^nd half of the year.  There were 14 Little Grebes on the Cefni reservoir (17^th).

Passerines and others:

Perhaps the first sight of autumn migrants with 7 Spotted Flycatchers (20^th), with 3 at South Stack, 3 at Cemlyn and 1 at a Benllech garden.  Also, Common Whitethroats were noted (20^th) with 4 at South Stack and 1 at a Benllech garden.  South Stack (20^th) also produced 8 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warblers, a Blackcap and 2 Goldcrest.  A Reed Bunting at Breakwater Country Park (16^th) was noteworthy for the site, whilst a juvenile Cuckoo was at Cemlyn (20^th).  Kingfishers were seen at the old brickworks pool, Traeth Dulas (14^th) and at Pont Bulkeley, Afon Cefni (14^th).

 

The forthcoming week 21^st – 27^th August?

A ticking up in the number of scarce and rare sightings.  Three good waders with a Temminck’s Stint at Malltraeth (22^nd) in 1970, a Pectoral Sandpiper at Malltraeth (22^nd) in 1994 and a Black-winged Stilt at Newborough Warren (23^rd) in 1965.  Two Cory’s Shearwaters were seen with one at Fedw Fawr (24^th) in 1985 and one at Cemlyn (27^th) in 1985.  A mix of European and Northern passerines, with a Melodious Warbler at South Stack (22^nd) in 1987, a European Bee-eater at South Stack (25^th) in 1984, and a Woodchat Shrike at Cemlyn (26^th) in 1981.

Looking back to 2020, Storm Francis was named on the 24^th and hit on the 25^th.  It led to some good sightings from sea-watching efforts, particularly on the 26^th - https://angleseybirdnews.blogspot.com/2020/08/saturday-22nd-august-friday-28th-august.html