A glorious sunny day and the first sprinkling of migrants surely mean that spring has now finally arrived for good.A long day in the field began with a sprightly signing Chiffchaff at the Point of Ayr and ended in the blink of an eye when the harsh realities of nature were played out right in front of my eyes when a female Merlin nailed a Wheatear at Burton Point.
The time in between was spent at Connah’s Quay. All the visible signs of spring were all in place here too: Peregrine on nest, check. Ravens displaying, check. First butterflies of the year on the wing - singles of Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell, check. Diminishing numbers of waders and wildfowl, check.
Two more Chiffchaffs and an incredible fifty-five Pied Wagtails near the nature trail were nice additions to the recipe too.
With news of Wheatears at Burton Point filtering through, Stan Skelton (whom I had bumped into at CQ) and I decided to head over to Cop Hole and walk across the embankment to a hoped for rendezvous with the African migrants.
Cop Hole itself held the usual winter garrison of Tufties and Pochard, but our real birds were a good twenty minutes walk away.
Typically, the Wheatears were located behind the sheep pens and there were not two birds, but three, plus a healthy count of at least six Stonechats in the nearby scrub.
The birds – like the birders – were enjoying basking in the evening spring sunshine, until a female Merlin burst on the scene from over the brow of the hill.
A quick pursuit resulted in the falcon successfully capturing the passerine. Keith’s text to Stan had been right after all: Burton Point, Wheatears 2.
The day culminated with myself finding an Owl pellet that I have a poor picture of below. After reading up, I believe it is from a Short-eared Owl. Unless anybody thinks different?
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