Nice variety today even if it was only really visible passage that came up with any numbers. A veil of cloud overhead at dawn that gradually cleared to a haziness as the day wore on and the temperature crept up helped to drop a steady procession of Meadow Pipits to countable height and towards 1500 were eventually logged over the Bill; the usual accompanying suspects included 9 Siskins, 5 Sand Martins and the first three figure total of Linnets of the spring. Grounded nocturnal migrants were far less numerous but did include the first multiple arrival of Blackcaps (5 at the Bill and a scatter of singles elsewhere), 2 additional Black Redstarts (the Ferrybridge bird was also still present) and further singles of Brambling and Bullfinch. With notable sea passage taking place all along the Channel far more might have expected than the measly totals accrued at Chesil and the Bill: 5 Garganey passing the former were the clear highlight, but 58 Common Scoter, 15 Brent Geese, 10 Teal, 3 Red-throated Divers, 2 Sandwich Terns, a Black-throated Diver and the first Puffin of the season constituted a sorry back-up cast.
Today's Brambling visited a private garden at Southwell © Nick Stantiford:
