Some more birding

29th August: Nothing much to see from a short seawatch, the usual Cory's shearwaters, an Audouin's gull, a juvenile yet again, and 3 Sandwhich tern.

30th August: More entertaining birding with a trickle of raptors from Buskett. Best of which was a Black kite and two adult Honey Buzzards. Eight Marsh harriers, a Montagu's harrier and a Grey heron also passed by. The first flock of Bee-eaters filled the air with their characteristic calls.

31st August: Not a bad day either, being still in the beginning at least...A hunting Eleonora's falcon light phase made the day. 12 Marsh harrier were sighted as were a Hobby and a Honey Buzzard adult. Two Turtle Doves whizzed down into the valley, been a very poor year so far for this beautiful but declining species. A Woodchat shrike perched shortly was the only interesting passerine apart from a total of 145 migrating and roosting Yellow wagtails.

1st September: The great month for watching everyone here looks forward to started off with three Purple herons over Salina. Even better were 8 Turnstones feeding along the coast. Probably it was the same flock seen on Sunday with two additions. A small flock of 5 Grey heron and a Purple heron made up the list of birds of note.
An Avocet was reported from Ghadira and we were off on the first September twitch. Seen it quite a few times before but not a bird to be missed! Other waders were two Dunlins, two Ringed Plover, and a few Little Stint and Little Ringed plovers.
Buskett in the afternoon produced 7 Marsh harrier, a Common Kestrel was all raptorwise. Furthermore a flock of 52 Bee-eater, the first Hoopoe this autumn and 135 Yellow wagtail.
2nd September: Best day so far since starting monitoring from Buskett this passage! Light to moderate south west and some cloud cover are good conditions for seeing raptors here. Marsh harriers started passing in singles and small flocks amounting to 38 birds. More exciting were Montagu's harriers migrating against the wind, 15 in all. The last eight roosted round about the countryside. How many will continue their migration south tomorow is another question with probably a very sad answer!
Two Kestrels and a Hobby were spotted too. Night herons made their prescence felt as they left their roost, 34 from Buskett flying across the sky V formation and another flock of 9. Finally it was nice to see 9 Turtle doves in all as the wind started picking up as the day started to come to an end.