A good all round early season migration day today - about time too! Grounded arrivals have been very conspicuously sparse all month so a little flurry at the Bill of 60 Chiffchaffs and 15 each of Blackcap and Willow Warbler was very welcome albeit nothing whatever to shout about for late March; 2 Black Redstarts were also still about there and 2 Bramblings dropped in, whilst elsewhere another 3 Black Redstarts lingered at Reap Lane and singles of Redwing and Fieldfare were about at Reap/Barleycrates. Despite the persistent cloud cover visible passage continued apace, with a sample one hour watch on West Cliffs returning totals of 391 Meadow Pipits and 85 Linnets. The sea was the surprise package of the day - in spite of a seemingly unhelpful offshore breeze - with 414 Common Scoter, 16 Shoveler, 9 Red-throated Divers, 9 Garganey, 2 Tufted Ducks and a Great Crested Grebe representing a really good return off the Bill.
It was about time we had a decent little arrival of grounded migrants and, as would be expected in March, it was Chiffchaffs that made up the bulk of the numbers;...
...we had been anticipating a decent passage of Bramblings and although points westward and eastward have done far better for numbers we've still been treated to daily records just lately. Many have pitched in briefly but few have been as confiding as this morning's young male that repeatedly dropped onto the Obs garden bird-table; sadly, an even better looking male was more circumspect;...
...the spring's best waterfowl passage to date was slightly hampered by a dogged haziness over the sea but a few of the scoter flocks were just about within camera range © Martin Cade:
