There endeth another month, blown out - perhaps rather fittingly bearing in mind how this March has played out - by a 60mph gale and mountainous swells offshore. The only reports were of storm-blown seabirds: 16 Sandwich Terns, 12 Kittiwakes and 3 Little Gulls through Ferrybridge, 22 Fulmars, 4 Manx Shearwaters, 3 Red-throated Divers and a Sandwich Tern through off the Bill and a handful of grounded Lesser Black-backed Gulls everywhere. With no grounded passerine migrants at all reported from the Bill there was no last minute fillip to some pretty dreadful month totals; as an example, our average March ringing totals during the last five years for Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff have been 60, 21 and 240 respectively, this month's totals for those three species are 6, 5 and 98.
Two of the Little Gulls and a Sandwich Tern at Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:
