14th April

Today saw a repeat of yesterday's migrant bonanza with the welcome bonus of a little more variety that included a Wryneck in the Obs Quarry. Willow Warblers again far outnumbered everything else, totalling a good 400 at the Bill; Wheatears came a strong second with perhaps 200 scattered through a wider area of the south of the island where 6 Whinchats, 5 Redstarts, 3 Black Redstarts, 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 Yellow Wagtails and singles of Merlin, Tree Pipit and Ring Ouzel featured amongst the list fillers; a good selection of under the radar newcomers including several Song Thrushes, Dunnocks and Great Tits were also of note. Sea passage was for the most part pretty light: one or two white-winged gulls offshore between the Bill and Blacknor variously reported as Glaucous, Iceland or leucistic Herring from different viewpoints remain unidentified pending review of as yet unseen photographs; the season's first Little Tern passed over at Chesil but movement there and off the Bill included little more than a trickle of Common Scoter, Red-throated Divers, Whimbrel and a single Arctic Skua.

The first Orange-tip of the year was on the wing at the Bill.

A finder's record of the Wryneck © Roger Hewitt...


...and a bit of video © Martin Cade:


 You can never tire of spring Whinchats © Pete Saunders: