After the hazy days of summer back in April and May with talk of droughts, it was a relief to get some rain this month. However, like most things connected with British weather things went too far. We have now had more rain in June than April and May combined and as I type this a fire is glowing in the wood burner and I chatted to colleagues on a Zoom meeting today wearing a puffer jacket while they were in t-shirts!
View down to the harbour this evening
What has this meant for the wildlife? Well it has made monitoring chough fledging challenging. So far 5 of the 7 nests that made it to the end of May have fledged young (4 from one site, 3 from three sites and 2 from the other). Hopefully tomorrow will allow us to check on the remaining two sites. There are good numbers of non-breeding chough around, a rowdy flock of 20 being seen on most days. We checked quickly on the one peregrine site that is accessible - 3 healthy looking chicks that look set to fledge any day now. A similar number in the sole buzzard nest that is visible - slightly behind the peregrines though. In total we have 3 pairs of each breeding this year.
It's been a good year for wheatears on the face of it. I've not crunched the numbers yet for breeding pairs but, as in most years, there is no shortage of noisy family groups all over the island. In good summers most will go on to have second broods - with drier, more settled weather promised by mid week the same will hopefully be true of this year.
Wheatear fledglings are all over the island
The seabird season is beginning to wind down already with large guillemot and razorbill chicks signaling they are ready to jump and no doubt many already have. When this weather finally settles I'll try and get out there of an evening and get some photos / videos to share with you.
(click on photos to see them at full resolution)