One of the Short-eared Owls at the Bill and the Great Spotted Woodpecker at Southwell © Pete Saunders:
7th February
An arrival of 10 Meadow Pipits in off the sea at the Bill was a surprise today, with it seeming more likely they were refugees from snowy weather in northern France rather than early migrants; in a similar vein - and presumably also not relating to any sort of long distance movement - a Chiffchaff heading north along the causeway at Smallmouth was an unexpected sight. These oddities aside there was little change, with 7 Purple Sandpipers and 2 Short-eared Owls at the Bill, 2 Red-throated Divers, a Black-throated Diver and a Common Scoter through off the Bill, a Great Spotted Woodpecker at Southwell, 2 Firecrests at Pennsylvania Castle/Church Ope Cove, the Blackcap still at Wakeham and 32 Ringed Plovers and a Great Northern Diver at Ferrybridge.
