27th March

Crystal clear skies and a cool breeze kicked off the day, bringing with it another Bullfinch to the garden. The morning's constitutional walk was unremarkable with a handful of common migrants including five Wheatears, two Goldcrests and one Black Redstart. Reports from elsewhere on the island provided the day list with two Siskins and a single Coal Tit (evidently there has been a small influx of Coal Tits across the West Coast, whether this individual was part of that or one of our regular spring continental birds remains to be seen). As the day wore on the wind dropped and the temperature rose, bringing the general feeling of the day to nothing short of magnificent, and the perfect weather for a spot of raptor passage;  three Red Kites were recorded in total, one over the obs (which headed east) and two together over Weston.

With the amount of reports of Red Kites over Wyke and Weymouth, it was surely only a matter of time before one meandered over our heads © Martin Cade:


Social isolation has not fazed our regular Ferrybridge-goers and a quick walk up the road instead provided a pair of Stonechats...© Debby Saunders:


...and this fabulous male Siskin © Pete Saunders