26th March

Unbroken sunshine and a brisk northeasterly were again the order of the day and it was only numbers that changed on the bird front. Visible passage was considerably stronger than yesterday, with Meadow Pipits on the move in quantity from early morning until well into the afternoon - a sample count of 620 north in 40 minutes along West Cliffs at the Bill looked to be entirely representative of long periods of the passage which surely numbered up around 5000 in total; hirundines, Linnets and Goldfinches were also tagging along in higher numbers than have hitherto been the case. It was again far too fair to have expected much of an arrival on the ground, with the 40 or so Chiffchaffs almost monopolising the tally at the Bill; 3 Grey Plovers and a Black-tailed Godwit were new at Ferrybridge, whilst the Hume's Warbler lingered on at Thumb Lane to provide a bit of quality elsewhere. With the wind remaining firmly offshore sea interest was confined to 12 Common Scoter and a Red-breasted Merganser through off the Bill.

A single Painted Lady was logged at the Bill where the first Comma of the year was also on the wing.

Black-tailed Godwit and Grey Plover were welcome additions to what had, just lately, been the diminishing wader variety at Ferrybridge © Debby Saunders: