17th April

We had almost forgotten what rain felt like: the soil and paths have become baked and dried to within an inch of their lives over the past few weeks. This morning's hefty downpour was a stark return to reality but, arriving as it did from the same direction that our summer visitors would have been travelling, it likely left today's potential arrivals grounded on the other side of the Channel. A little pulse of visible passage once the rain eased was dominated by Meadow Pipits but also included a few Swifts, wagtails, hirundines and finches, and a lone Hobby; what little that did drop in on the ground included a Mistle Thrush at the Bill and singles of Black Redstart both there and at Blacknor. It was again the sea that came up with the day's numbers, with combined Bill and Chesil totals of 330 Bar-tailed Godwits and 216 Whimbrel, along with a customary selection of other waders, terns and singles of Great and Arctic Skua.