The sound of the wind whipping itself into a frenzy last night did not inspire much confidence in the day ahead. It was a morning for a slow wake up, but we should always know better and an early morning phone call from the Quinetiq compound revealed that a Stone Curlew had been sighted on their morning patrols. An initial search for the bird around the Bill yielded little success, but a fortunate farmer unearthed the bird later within the ploughed field across the road before it swiftly departed northwards. Despite the howling easterly wind, migrants were still revealing themselves across the obs area; three Black Redstarts remained, a sad total of seven Wheatears, three White Wagtails and singles of Redwing and Fieldfare were located throughout the day. The sea produced the first Bar-tailed Godwit of the year along with 10 Manx Shearwaters and 26 Common Gulls.
The Stone Curlew was an unfortunate combination of incredibly flighty and very prone to hunkering in ploughed fields making it difficult to get to grips with... © Martin Cade:
