16th April

Having been so spoilt for Little Gulls in the last few months it seems almost greedy to want another dose of them, but they do just keep coming: today's fresh south-easterly was just up their street and saw totals of 72 at Chesil and 58 at the Bill make the log; since many of the Chesil birds headed away east over the beach and so clearly weren't recorded at the Bill it's likely that well over 100 individuals were involved. Seawatching also came up with 140 Common Scoter, 21 Sandwich Terns, 11 Whimbrel, 7 Red-throated Divers, 5 Curlews, 5 Arctic Skuas, 4 Shoveler, 3 Little Terns, 2 Grey Plovers, 2 Arctic Terns and a Great Northern Diver from the Bill and 51 Common Scoter, 27 Bar-tailed Godwits, 17 Sandwich Terns, 7 Red-throated Divers, 6 Sanderling, 6 Whimbrel, a Great Northern Diver, a Curlew and an Arctic Skua from Chesil. Rewards from the land were relatively scant, with no numbers of any of the routine fare, but interest did come in the form of a Ring Ouzel at Reap Lane, the first Sedge Warbler of the spring at the Bill and a scatter of half a dozen Redstarts around the south of the island.



Redstart - Southwell, 16th April 2014 © Debby Saunders