30th April

A certain feeling of falling at the last hurdle as today became the only day of the month that we failed to catch a Willow Warbler in the garden; in fact a single Chiffchaff was all we could muster in between the sudden and intense showers. This set the tone for the day with the poorest day list for over a month. The clear highlight for the day was a 'spooned' Pomarine Skua after the first big belt of rain had passed; the supporting cast included two summer plumage Great Northern Divers, three Arctic Skuas and two Bonxies. Passerine migrants were thin on the ground with just a handful of Whinchats, Wheatears and Whitethroats to brighten up an otherwise grey and very windy day.

The Purple Sandpipers by the Bill are starting to look really smart ©Pete Saunders:


With the intermittent showers, some of the Bonxies were coming in close enough to photograph ©Pete Saunders:


In the breaks in the weather, you could be fooled into thinking that it was a beautiful spring day, then 10 minutes later the wind would pick up once more and the lashing rain would follow ©Joe Stockwell: