The last few days have seen far from typical weather for the beginning of April - 17c has been logged for 2 days running, we sometimes don't seen those sort of temperatures out here until mid May. The calm settled weather has seen a surge in migrants passing through, the most numerous being willow warblers. Double figures have been logged for the past 4 days with a peak of 27 on 9th April. Fresh in from Africa these birds are busy feeding among the gorse and willow, snapping up the plentiful supply of insects on the wing in this warm weather.
Blackcaps have been increasing in number too and yesterday our first ring ouzel of the year appeared in boulder scree on the western slopes of Carn Llundain. Red kites, or possibly the same bird, have been logged several times in recent days, gliding along the east coast on the look out for rabbit carcasses. More additions to the year list came in the form of both sand martin (yesterday) and today, house martin, with 2 birds inspecting the nest boxes before carrying on their northerly route. It won't be long, we hope, before the resident breeding birds are back. The warm weather has seen a notable increase in butterflies recorded. Mainly peacocks but the first small tortoiseshell of the year were recorded today.
The full moon has passed and with it has come darker nights as it rises later each night. This has meant an increase in Manx shearwater activity with birds being heard calling over the house. A second nest box bird was back yesterday too.
The full moon periods of March and April see some of the biggest tides of the year and I took the chance yesterday to photograph and film the reef known as The Bitches at both high and low tide to show the nearly 8m difference between the two.
The settled weather has allowed us to complete the first round of our common bird census surveys. We won't have final results until June but for now it's safe to say wheatears look to be back in very good numbers. Every wall was exploding with their scratchy calls this morning. Next week we will be keeping a close eye on our chough as the first few pairs should be incubating by now.
Don't forget the RSPB's #BreakfastBirdwatch on Twitter each morning between 8-9am - just drop in to see what others are posting or upload photos or videos (or just news) of your own of what you are seeing in your gardens at that time of day
High tide in the morning, low tide in the afternoon - The Bitches reef off the east coast of Ramsey
Bye for Now
Gwyneth