Despite not really being able to undestand why we didn't
record a Wheatear, it was nonetheless a pleasure to be out on a fine, calm and
mild day. The first WhiteWagtail of the spring was an on-cue arrival at the
Bill, where a fly-by Puffin was the first sighting of what we hope is a
returning breeding bird; elsewhere, a Mistle Thrush was a first for the year at
Southwell, whilst quality came in the form of one or more IcelandGulls again
at Chesil Cove and Ferrybridge (another sighting of a white-winged gull off
West Cliffs concerned a bird that was too distant to determine whether it was a
wandering IcelandGull or yesterday's Kumlien's Gull). The back-up cast
included a trickle of northbound visible migrants (MeadowPipits along West
Cliffs and 2 Chaffinches over the Bill), the GreatSkua again at Ferrybridge, a
BlackRedstart at the Bill, 2 Red-throatedDivers through off the Bill and 19
Black-neckedGrebes, 10 GreatNorthernDivers, 8 SlavonianGrebes, 4 Red-neckedGrebes, 2 Black-throatedDivers, the Eider and the BlackGuillemot in Portland
Harbour.