9th May

A very pleasant sunny and warm day with no more than a waft of an easterly breeze - very nice for getting out birding but, some sea passage aside, not much cop migrant-wise. The sea came up with the bulk of the numbers, particularly involving terns of which 976 commics - sadly, way too far out to have even the faintest idea whether Commons or Arctics predominated - passed through off the Bill in the first few hours of the morning; 136 Common Scoter, 3 Arctic Skuas, 3 Black Terns, 2 Great Northern Divers, 2 Red-throated Divers and a Great Crested Grebe were amongst the other movers there. Hirundines - mainly Swallows but also a few late-ish Sand Martins - along with a season peak to date of 27 Swifts and singles of Red Kite, Hobby and Redpoll, were arriving overhead in a steady procession but grounded arrivals were the poor relation, with the main interest concerning some other rather tardy newcomers including singles of Merlin and Goldcrest at the Bill. Waders included 24 Dunlin, 6 Grey Plovers, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits and a Knot at Ferrybridge, whilst nearby there were still 5 Great Northern Divers in Portland Harbour.