3rd July

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: