Monday May 9th 2011

A fairly nice sunny day with a very light southerly wind and some cloud cover. More passage of Swallows today with 126 migrating south; also heading south were 2 Avocet, 1 Curlew, 1 Sanderling, 1 Oystercatcher and 2 Common Tern. 1 Wheatear was found out on the reserve. Warblers present were 6 Common Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat and 1 Chiffchaff. Only 6 birds ringed today; 1 female Common Redstart, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 female Common Whitethroat, 1 male Chaffinch, 1 Woodpigeon and a very young Blackbird. Butterflies found included Green Hairstreak, Holly Blue and Small Copper. A Four-spot Chaser was recorded. In the moth traps a White-speck is very notable for this time of the year. Also good for us is a Waved Umber.