Wheatear displays Skokholm Island came to an abrupt wind enforced halt. Against a backdrop of foaming seas F22 continued his search for a mate or rather his wait. Having decided his territory he must attract a female. It’s not happening for him - and he’s been here a month!

Wheatears are now arriving Skokholm Island in decent numbers. The North Plain area is getting quite congested. Several pairs were involved in territorial disputes from the Obs to Little Bay Point. This included several standoffs and confrontations at the disputed boundaries.

More wheatears arrived overnight amongst a significant fall of migrants today Skokholm Island. Female D81 was at Crab Bay with an unringed male and male D82 was at Little Bay, both new in. Numbers are still down so hopefully more have now arrived and will soon be revealed.

Wheatears enjoyed a calmer day Skokholm Island & were out & about exploring their territories. There’s been much singing, song-flighting and displaying (as here with C54) with males establishing their boundaries - usually in the same places that they or others set them last year.

It was a day of Wheatears in the mist Skokholm Island. Male C54 and his (as yet) unrevealed neighbour on North Plain have now attracted females as has F22 on the South Coast Path. (F20 on Home Meadow remains solo though). More birds are arriving but it is still a slow spring.

Most Wheatears Skokholm Island spent today sheltering. F20 was on his territory at the South Coast Path. He’s been there for eight days now and as with some other males is still solo. There have been very few arrivals in the last week but hopefully a few females are on the way!

Wheatear F22 was still looking for a female Skokholm Island. He’s on Home Meadow which is not a popular territory. This is surprising as being the first bird back he could’ve returned to Crab Bay where he bred successfully in 2023 and maybe had a better chance of finding a mate.

There are often 4 pairs of Wheatears on The Neck Skokholm Island. During a lull in the wet and windy conditions, a pair near the Razorbill hide partially revealed themselves - an older male with a younger female. There was an unringed female nearby - so more birds to arrive.

Wheatears were keeping their heads down on another day of strong winds Skokholm Island. Male C39 ventured out at The Dents. He fledged in 2020 and has been breeding in territories around the North Fields area ever since. Hopefully he’ll have a successful fourth year.

There are 42 Wheatear nestboxes Skokholm Island. Put down in 2019 they’ve been used several times already. Using bespoke camera set-ups we’ve obtained and analysed about 80 hours of revealing footage. However, some are deteriorating so today we built some replacements.

Although there are a few female Wheatears back now Skokholm Island, male F22 is still on his own. He’s been here since at least March 10th well in advance of any other bird but hasn’t taken advantage of his early arrival. Come on F22 get your act together!

A trickle of newly arrived Wheatears Skokholm Island included the first females and pairs have started to form. Male D57 is again on Winter Pond paired with F99, a bird fledged last year (pictured). In other news F85 (fitted with a tracker) is back on North Plain.

Strong winds and drizzle curtailed local Wheatear activity today Skokholm Island. Male C54 was concerned by the arrival of three new males on Home Meadow. (All unringed and almost certainly migrants passing through). He held his watch to ensure that they did move on (Pic MJ).

Despite the weather it really is spring and those Skokholm Island Wheatears are returning to Dream Isle to breed and capture our interest. Male F20, back today, is carrying a data logger fitted last year. Once retrieved it will give us amazing insights into his winter travels.

Wheatear A31 has had a BTO ring for 8 years and 14 days. The British longevity record is 8 years, 3 months and 16 days. Fingers crossed he can complete his 17th and 18th trans-Saharan flights and smash the record in 2024.

Juv Wheatear H18 was ringed on 23 June & reported from the mainland on 25th July (pic Joyce Rae). Today it’s back here! Prospecting? Getting its bearings? H79’s the 88th & now the final juv ringed. Thanks for watching. See you all in 2024 for more Wheatear Tales Skokholm Island.

Wet days at the end of the Wheatear season mean nestbox ‘gardening’. There’s 42 Skokholm Island to review and ensure they are appealing to 2024’s breeders. This year we had three used (plus three nests in Storm Petrel boxes) to add a further 40 hours of video for later analysis.

We’re nearing the end of the Wheatear ‘season’ Skokholm Island. Birds are ending their moults and will soon start to build up for their journey to the Sahel on the other side of the Sahara. H01 who was ringed as a ‘fluffy’ youngster on 21 June looks pretty much an adult now.

There are varied plumages now in Skokholm Island Wheatears with both adults and juveniles at different stages of moult. Here H05 is well into its post juvenile moult. It was ringed on 22 June when it looked very like the young juvenile also pictured which is from a second brood.