First Dunlin back and sea bird dearth

Sand Point/Bay: Winds changed from south-westerly to WNW today and although still quite strong no sea birds were recorded. In Sand Bay 3 Dunlin turned up. Shelduck numbers were up to 24 and Black-headed Gulls up to 120. 219 Starling (count from photo) attempted migration off Sand Point but returned.

Manx Shearwater numbers again in treble figures

Manx Shearwater

A 2 hour sea watch off Sand Point produced good numbers of Manx Shearwater again but numbers not so good today. Yesterday 600 an hour recorded compared to todays 350 an hour. Birds were more distant today with several hundred moving mid channel. Birds were moving both up and down channel but mainly down. Also moving through 2 Woodpigeon, 61 Starling, 3 Swallow, 1 House Martin.
In Sand Bay just 104 Black-headed Gulls remained and Curlew numbers were up to 31

Max Manx Shearwater count

Off Anchor Head in an hour 600 Manx Shearwater nearly all heading south, 7 Fulmar south and 2 Gannet south before the count was abandoned for work.
Sand Point later in the morning: 150 Manx, 1 Gannet, 3 Fulmar (A.Hockey)
Sand Bay: 186 Black-headed Gulls and 15 Curlew.
Garden moth trap: 1 Silver Y

Cream-bordered Green Pea

Cream-bordered Green Pea

Lobster

Sand Bay: A quick look over the mornings high tide revealed an overnight increase in Black-headed Gulls to 270 whilst newly arrived Curlews seem to have moved on. Last night a Lesser Whitethroat was new in.
Garden moth trap: Cream-bordered Green Pea and Lobster were new for the garden.

Sand Bay/Point 18th June

Argyresthia spinosella feeds on Blackthorn

Dichrorampha alpinana feeds on Oxeye Daisy

Hedya pruniana feeds on Blackthorn

Monopis obviella feeds on refuse

Orthotaenia undulana feeds on various

Sand Bay: Curlew no.s up. Difficult to count in the marsh but 27 were eventually counted. 70 Black-headed Gulls still feeding along the tideline.
Sand Point: Diurnal micros on the wing this evening included Nemapogon cloacella, Scoparia ambigualis, Orthotaenia undulana, Monopis obviella, Argyresthia conjugella, Hedya pruniana, Dichrorampha alpinana

More micros from last week at Sand Point

Aethes tesserana feeds on Oxtongue and Hawkweed

Coleophora discordella feeds on Birdsfoot Trefoil

Homoeosoma sinuella feeds on Ribwort Plantain

Despite the poor results from over night trapping diurnal activity has been occasionally quite good in the evenings. Here are a few more micros from last week and Sand Point.

A few more sea birds

The Low system passing now and today saw lessening south-westerly winds and clearing skies. Just 13mph with gusts to 15mph. Temperatures much the same as yesterday 13c (10c with wind chill). 2 hours of Sand Point produced 27 Manx Shearwater, 1 Storm Petrel, 4 Tern sp and 13 Gannet. Black-headed Gull count in Sand Bay remained about 70 birds.

Sea watching in southerly winds

Sand Point: 13 degrees celcius, 10 with wind chill. 22mph SSW winds with 26mph gusts. 2 hours sea watch this morning produced 232 Manx Shearwater all but 15 up channel, 1 Commic Tern down channel, 10 Gannet up channel, 1 Grey Plover south, 24 Swift south and 2 Swallow west. In Sand Bay 70 Black-headed Gulls feeding on the tideline.
3 Crossbills seen flying over Clarence Park (B.Blake)

13th June micros

Cnephasia Sp presumed incertana

Nemapogon cloacella

Paraswammerdamia albicapitella

10th June

A wind drop and swing to a 6.5mph SE. Winds were light all night giving opportunity for the sea birds to make their way out of the channel in darkness.
13 Manx Shearwater (9 up, 4 down)
18 Swift E
1 Sand Martin SE
1 House Martin W
3 Swallow W
In Sand Bay 8 Curlew and 7 Black-headed Gull

Storm Petrels

Storm Petrel (not bad views for Sand Point)

Shag

Another good sea bird day at Sand Point. Winds around 12mph with gusts up to 18mph throughout the morning.
1 dark phase Arctic Skua down channel
1 Great Skua on the sea
1 Pomarine Skua up channel
1 Kittiwake up channel
1 Gannet up channel
16 Storm Petrel down channel
42 Manx Shearwater involving birds up and down
1 Shag on the sea
1 Crossbill west
1 Siskin west
3 Swallow west

Sea birds

Fulmar

Manx Shearwater

Storm Petrel

30mph south-westerly winds with gusts up to 60mph hit overnight and still around 25mph by the evening. At Sand Point birds started moving up channel around 6:30am lasting until mid-morning when a continuous movement throughout the rest of the day involved birds heading back down channel.
2 Arctic Skua
1 Pomarine Skua
1 Great Skua
8 Gannet
175 Manx Shearwater
79 Fulmar
2 Common Scoter
1 Swift
5 Storm Petrel
7 Kittiwake
30 House Martin
Also 1,000+ Lesser Black-back Gulls west all day. Presumably these are local movements.

Mullein

Mullein (TBC)

Ephestia parasitella

Garden moth trap: Mullein was a new moth for the garden and the first time I have caught this species. An Ephestia parasitella was the only other year tick.

Grey Plovers and new garden moth E.bilunana

Grey Plover

Epinotia bilunana

Temperatures still very poor for the time of year with a series of Atlantic lows sweeping through. The outlook is for more of the same. A sea watch could be on for Friday but otherwise it's a waiting game for a change in the weather.
A short visit to Sand Bay/Point this morning produced 3 Grey Plover in winter type plumage whilst at the Point nothing was recorded migrating through.
The garden moth trap still holding small numbers but Large Tabby, Freyer's Pug were new for the year and Epinotia bilunana was a garden first bringing the total to 446.

Migrant moth influx

White Ermine

Temperatures around 11 degrees last night feeling much cooler with a cold southerly breeze. Very little on the wing last night except for common migrants: 19 Silver Y, 11 Diamond-back Moths and 2 Rush Veneer.
Middle Hope: A small flurry of migrants through mid afternoon involving 60 Swift, 15 House Martin and 3 Swallow.

Brean moth list for 1st June

Just a trickle of migrants today at Brean with 1 Swift, 1 Swallow and 3 House Martin through. Slightly more interest came from the moths with Treble-bar, Glyphipterix fuscoviridella, Plutella xylostella and Parornix anglicella.
No small waders at Sand Bay this evening.
Here is the moth list from Brean on 1st June:

Heart and Dart
Flame Shoulder
Treble Lines
Common Marbled Carpet
Setaceous Hebrew Character
Pale Tussock
Silver-ground Carpet
Vine's Rustic
Common Pug
Green Carpet
Common Swift
Silver Y
Poplar Hawk-moth
Scalloped Hazel
Clouded Silver
Large Yellow Underwing
Hebrew Character
Pale Mottled Willow
Angle Shades
Common Carpet
Marbled Minor
Green Pug
Shoulder-striped Wainscot
Broken-barred Carpet
Willow Beauty
Rustic Shoulder-knot
Shears
Light Emerald
Knot Grass
Cream Wave
Light Brocade
Waved Umber
Small Elephant Hawk-moth
Swallow Prominent
Grey Pug
Heart and Club
Chinese Character
Brown Rustic
Dark Sword-grass
Dog's Tooth
Marbled Coronet
L-album Wainscot
Light Brown Apple Moth
Celypha lacunana
Small Magpie
Scoparia pyralella
Elachista argentella
Glyphipterix fuscoviridella
Large Fruit-tree Tortrix
Monopis weaverella

Marbled Coronet and some waders hang on

Marbled Coronet

Archips podana

Good conditions today with a light easterly wind and some heavy cloud at times, cloud base around 120 metres. Despite this I couldn't find any vismig this morning.
A Bar-tailed Godwit heard over Brean Down at 1am whilst moth trapping
1 Siskin over Weston this afternoon
Sand Bay: 25 Ringed Plover, 25 Dunlin, 3 Sanderling, 5 Black-headed Gull
Brean Down moth highlights: Marbled Coronet and Glyphipterix fuscoviridella (TBC)

Curlew Sandpiper

Record shot of Curlew Sandpiper

Waders in Sand Bay this evening provided some interest on an otherwise dull day. 9 Sanderling, 34 Ringed Plover, 50 Dunlin and a Curlew Sandpiper fed on the beach on the ebbing tide.