10th July

The forecast downturn in the weather duly begun to materialise, with a blustery southerly blowing up ahead of the arrival of overcast skies and, towards evening, the onset of drizzly rain. Plenty of effort was made on the land but the day's chief rewards - and numbers - were from the sea, with 124 Manx Shearwaters, 16 Black-headed Gulls, 14 Mediterranean Gulls,11 Common Scoter, 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 Arctic Skuas and a Balearic Shearwater through off the Bill; the first 6 Yellow-legged Gulls of the season were also logged there, but the majority of these were arriving from the south and carrying on northward rather than passing by. Swifts and hirundines were again on the move overhead, with 60 Swifts, 16 Sand Martins and 15 Swallows leaving out to sea from the Bill; as the cloud increased later in the day, several dozen Swifts also lingering overhead. Other interest was limited to an extra Blackcap joining the lingerer at the Bill and a Common Sandpiper at Ferrybridge.