Lesser Whitethroat 1 singing
Manx Shearwater 50
Black Guillemot 7
Chough 4
Gannet 5
Common Rosefinch, formerly Scarlet Rosefinch, is also known as grotfinch in some birding circles, presumably because its name promises so much, yet most individuals that reach our shores are immature birds in autumn, which don't look too disimilar to a Corn Bunting. They also often occur on the Isles of Scilly where they are in the company of more exciting American vagrants.
Todays bird however was quite a happy, charming character I thought, almost comical looking, and best of all he had a lovely little song. Yes he was a 1st summer male, with not much sign of any scarlet, but give the guy a break, he was doing his best.
He led us a bit of a merry dance at first, no sign of him for an hour, then he was singing but always distantly and out of view, until at last he flew up onto a wire right in front of us and proceeded to sing for us for about 5 minutes. Good job he did, because this was probably my most embarassing bogey bird of all time, and it was nice to get it on the list!
Not that the wait was too depressing, what with Lesser Whitethroat singing, Black Guillemots in the bay, Choughs on the cliffs and a decent passage of Manx Shearwaters out at sea.
Not bad, Greenish Warbler, White-spotted Bluethroat and Common Rosefinch all singing on consectutive weekends!
UK 388 (Common Rosefinch), North West 345, Year 207 (Common Rosefinch, Manx Shearwater, Puffin (at South Stack))
Who could not like this friendly little guy, singing his heart out in such beautiful surroundings? Be honest, he's no worse than lots of other birds, and in a years time he'll be more impressive than most!
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