30th July

In huge contrast to what we'd got used to in recent weeks some really wild weather blew in overnight and, quite apart from sounding an at least temporary death knell for moth immigration, caused a right stir-up on the wader front; Ferrybridge scored heavily in the squally showers after dawn when minima of 100 Dunlin, 81 Sanderlings, 74 Turnstones, 60 Oystercatchers, 50 Ringed Plovers, 20 Black-tailed Godwits, 8 Whimbrel, 6 Redshank, 5 Knot and singles of Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper were logged. The sea was well watched but rather unrewarding, with little more than 46 Manx Shearwaters, 8 Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Arctic Skuas and singles of Curlew, Whimbrel and Great Skua through off the Bill, whilst 2 Yellow-legged Gulls at the Bill were the best from a very blown-out land.

Two Vestals at Weston were by far the best of some very limited overnight catches in the moth-traps.

Although hardly a surprise arrival given the numbers recorded elsewhere in Britain in recent days, this morning's Wood Sandpiper was nonetheless a very welcome Portland record (...it was only the second in the last four years). In fact, so subliminal are most of our records that we're not even sure that we've ever before been able to provide tangible evidence for any of them on the blog © Pete Saunders (settled) and Debby Saunders (flying):



Knots and Whimbrel were just a few of the wealth of other waders dropping in at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders: