Whimbrel and Whinchat at the Bill © Nick Hopper...
...and a Puffin - seemingly the only one in attendance at the auk colony this year - settled offshore © Ted Pressey:
17th May
Finally the plague of beautiful blue skies ended today with the first bit of real cloud cover for some time and, before the end of the afternoon, the first real rainfall for a while. With this came a small flurry of interesting migrants including the first Wryneck of the year flushed from the path in Coombefield Quarry and a singing Cuckoo at the Grove. Other commoner migrants were present in good numbers with Reed Warblers and Spotted Flycatchers reaching double figures; 2 each of Yellow Wagtail and Whinchat were recorded whilst Tree Pipit, Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler were only present as singles. The ledges below the East Cliffs continued to be of interest producing 3 Grey Plovers, 2 Whimbrel and a Dunlin. The sea held a bit of interest with a pair of Velvet Scoter and a Pomarine Skua being the pick of the bunch.
