A wonderfully calm and clear day perhaps marked the beginning of the end of the relentless cool northeasterlies that have blighted so much of this spring. The change brought little in the way of action on the land where it was only dogged persistence that saw the day-list gain any sort of respectability - and that in the form of variety rather than quality;
Wheatear and
Willow Warbler edged it for numbers - including a dozen of each at the Bill - with ones and twos of a routine selection of other tardy arrivals scattered everywhere. Visible passage was disappointingly low-key bearing in the mind the conditions, with
Swallows reduced to little more than a trickle. A not altogether expected movement of more than 120
Kittiwakes off the Bill - by far the highest count for many weeks - provided the best of the interest offshore; 2
Great Northern Divers and a single
Black-throated Diver also passed by there.
We're nearly always running really late with all sorts of background jobs and one that falls behind more than most is going through nocmig recordings - we still have nearly five months of last year's recordings to go through! Anyway, we have been trying to keep up a little better during this spring and there's been a nice run of records from the nights we've got through. This Dotterel passed over the Obs - pretty close by the sound of the wing beats just before it calls - soon after 11pm on 25th April:
Many thanks to Joe Stockwell for being on hand to confirm/identify recordings for us. We'll post some more of the highlights in the next few days.
