Sadly for the wealth of extra observers who were on station today (...where were you for the last couple of days when that extra coverage would have been so welcome?) it would have been pushing our luck to have expected a fall for the third day on the trot; that said, for the early risers at least there was a decent enough flurry of new arrivals to sift through before activity quickly quietened down. The nature of what occurred was very much like yesterday's event, with migrants whipping through rapidly under a crystal clear sky such that there was often precious little differentiation between grounded birds and visible passage. Day totals from the Bill area included 800
Swallows, 150
Willow Warblers, 200
House Martins and 120
Wheatears, with quality amongst the wide range of lower counts that included 15
Yellow Wagtails, 6
White Wagtails, 2
Ring Ouzels and singles of
Merlin and
Grasshopper Warbler; an additional 6
Yellow Wagtails, 2
Ring Ouzels and 1
Grasshopper Warbler were at Barleycrates Lane. The promised shift toward a more onshore breeze didn't materialise until well into the afternoon and the sea remained quiet, with 15
Whimbrel, 12
Common Scoter, a
Red-throated Diver and a
Bar-tailed Godwit the best on offer at the Bill.
A good many of the day's migrants, such as this Willow Warbler high over the Obs, didn't even trouble to touch down but made the most of the cloudless sky to head straight through to points northward © Martin Cade:
A few of the birds actually making landfall included Whinchat and Ring Ouzel at Barleycrates Lane © Ted Pressey (Whinchat) and Debby Saunders (Ring Ouzel):
The first Wall Browns of the year were on the wing today © Ted Pressey:
It's not often we get to see this view but Nick Stantiford was recently out on a boat off the Bill and sent us through some photos of parts of the seabird colony and a couple of shots of close Razorbills © Nick Stantiford:
