June 2019 : Summary
UK Species Year List to June: 173
Total UK Species in June: 92
New “Year Ticks” in June: 12
New “Life Ticks” in June: 0
Life ticks in June 2019
- NONE
Year ticks in June 2019
- Lesser Whitethroat heard at North Cave on 3rd June 2019
- Guillemot at Bempton Cliffs on 4th June 2019
- Puffin at Bempton Cliffs on 4th June 2019
- Razorbill at Bempton Cliffs on 4th June 2019
- Gannet at Bempton Cliffs on 4th June 2019
- Corn Bunting at Bempton Cliffs on 4th June 2019
- Chough at Little Orme on 18th June 2019
- Rock Pipit at Little Orme on 18th June 2019
- Arctic Terns at Cemlyn Bay on 18th June 2019
- Black Guillemot at the Fish Docks, Holyhead on 18th June 2019
- Little Terrns at Gronant Dunes on 19th June 2019
- Black-necked Grebes at Woolston Eyes on the 28th June 2019
The first birding group day of the month was an overnight trip to Blacktoft Sands, North Cave and Bempton Cliffs on the 3rd and 4th of June. We managed all the usual cliff-nesting birds (which were mostly year ticks) but also had a Lesser Whitethroat (heard) and a Corn Bunting showing well and singing for long periods.
I managed to get a much better sighting of Lesser Whitethroat on our next birding group trip which was on the 18th June (the week before was cancelled due to torrential rain) and which took in RSPB Conwy and Little Orme. It was at the former that I got good views of a Lesser Whithroat singing from atop a bush for a few minutes. At Little Orme we got Chough and Rock Pipit, both year ticks. After that we split from the birding group as we were staying over at Holyhead. This gave us a chance to get year tick Arctic Tern at Cemlyn Bay and Black Guillemot at the Fish Dock at Holyhead.
Our stay overnight allowed us to have a very nice early morning visit to South Stack and then we went on to find the Savi’s Warbler at Maltreath Marsh before heading home with just one more stop on a lovely, sunny late afternoon ; at Gronant Little Tern colony where we got our final year tick of the two-day Wales trip. That gave us a total of sixty-one species and five year ticks over the two days!
We didn’t go to the birding group trip to Wigan Flashes, which was the last of the month, because the weather forecast was poor and I was suffering from Hay Fever. As it happens, we did not miss much anyway but we made up for our lapse with a visit to Woolston Eyes on the 26th June where we got our Black-necked Grebes for the year – and also got very bitten
Garden
The young Starling are still around but adults are very much rarer than they have been of late. The House Sparrows are plentiful and always eating and bathing in the garden. A Robin is seen regularly and less regularly Wren and Dunnock. A single Blackbird appears from time to time and there are small-ish numbers og Goldfinch and the occasional Nuthatch.The highlight of the month (we hope) was the appearance of three Ring-necked Parakeets on the feeder. They made subsequent visits later in the month but there is no sign of them taking over yet.
There are still Swifts around and can be seen on nicer days – particularly in the afternoon. A Chaffinch has been seen on the feeder recently which is a bit of a rarity. The weather towards the end of the month got really quite warm.The Woodpigeons and Feral Pigeons are ever-present unfortunately.