A couple of Southern Migrant Hawkers at the Butts Pond in early July this year were the first site records and two males caught today in the Heligoland trap continued this species advance through the country in 2021
Pretty clear skies at first light but heavy cloud soon rolled in and while it stayed dry with light winds, it was overcast throughout the morning; there were a couple of ornithological highlights including a Great White Egret which flew south at sea and (maybe yesterday's) Nightingale which found at mist net.
A few birds heading south at sea today comprised 15 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Common Gulls, a Curlew, 5 Grey Plover, 29 Oystercatchers, 22 Ringed Plovers, a Sanderling, 2 Turnstone, 3 Whimbrel, 2 Shoveler and 13 Teal.
Elsewhere 9 Barnacle Geese flew north, 8 Sand Martins and 6 Swallows flew south and 5 Willow Warblers were the only other grounded migrants.
Ringing: Robin 1, Willow Warbler 4, Blackbird 1, Nightingale 1, Whitethroat 1, House Sparrow 1
Becoming scarcer here, it is good to get Pyrausta purpuralis the last couple of days. It lives on Self-heal, a member of the Mint family which has a long history of use in traditional medicine