Birds, Birds, Birds

 I know that the blog seems a bit dominated by birds at the moment but when you live on a small island with 200,000 of them and more dropping in all time it is hard to see the woods from the trees so to speak. So to continue the theme:

 - The black-winged stilt is still on the island today, it seems to have settled down to a few pools on the south end of the island though it does go for a little wander occassionally. It is happy to let photographers get quite close but despite this they seem to need huge lens. The bitter north wind has turned its bright pink legs blue but it looks like it might stay a while despite the non-mediterrainian climate and hopefully more people will enjoy. it

 - Yesterday a huge commotion from the gulls of the south end of the island told us that we had another brief visitor; an osprey appeared soaring overhead taking advantage of the wind-free warm conditions to head north.

The osprey being mobbed by gulls

 - A continual trickle of migrants adds spice to each day at the moment. These are birds either blown off course as they head north or held up by the north winds and use the island as a stop off, like the services on a motorway. Common and black redstarts, dunnocks, pied flycatchers, lesser whitethroats, wheatears, ring ouzels, willow warblers, whinchats, chiff chaffs and about 70 fieldfares have all put in an appearence in the last day or so. You never quite know what you might see each time you go out.

A dunnock trapped and ringed .

A wheatear female - not often trapped on the island.