A bright and breezy morning gave way to an increasingly wild afternoon that saw the wind gusting up toward gale force as a rain band arrived from the west.
Balearic Shearwaters staged their first good movement of the year with 171 through off the Bill; unusually, most were tied in with a eastward pulse of
Manx Shearwaters - the latter lagged behind in numbers for most of the day before a late surge saw them overtake the Balearics and end up just shy of 200. Perhaps the oddest offshore movement involved unseasonable skuas, with totals of 8
Pomarine, 5
Arctic and 2
Great through at the Bill; c600
Gannets, 65
Common Scoter and 2
Dunlin made up the rest of the day sea numbers there. Waders accounted for all of what little could be mustered from the land, with a
Curlew at the Bill and 4
Dunlin and 2
Common Sandpipers at Ferrybridge.
One of this morning's Common Sandpipers at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:
Despite the strength of the wind it was nice and warm in sheltered spots and two Large Tortoiseshells were on the wing, one at New Ground and this one in a private garden above Church Ope Cove © Gerry Hinde:
