For the most part, today's visitors didn't get much of a feel for us being in the middle of a promising-looking spell of unseasonable warmth, what with drizzly showers and a couple of pulses of heavier rain being the order of the morning; however, a bright end to day came up trumps with the island's earliest ever
Swallow putting in an appearance at the Grove. Passage earlier had been restricted to a handful of
Black-headed,
Common and
Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the move off the Bill, where 6
Red-throated Divers and 3
Common Scoter also passed by. Long-stayers still about included 6
Purple Sandpipers, 2
Short-eared Owls, a
Black Redstart and a
Chiffchaff at the Bill and 2 more
Black Redstarts and a
Chiffchaff at Church Ope Cove; 2
Greenfinches were also of note at Ferrybridge.
On an immigrant-free night in the Obs moth-traps singles of
Hebrew Character,
Common Quaker and
Oak Beauty - all first records for the year - provided some minor interest.
Although a mid-February Swallow certainly isn't to be sniffed at, it's a shame that just at moment there isn't the blanket coverage of parts of the island that we're used to later in the spring since there must be a decent chance of there being a freaky vagrant to be found somewhere © Sarah Hodgson:
