29th May

Goodness knows when this is going to end but if we're seeing this many late migrants drop in when there's hardly been a cloud in the sky for the last week then there must be an awful lot of birds still on the move. Today suffered from severely reduced coverage but there was still 10 Spotted Flycatchers, 4 Whinchats, 3 Willow Warblers and singles of Yellow Wagtail, Wheatear, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and Blackcap grounded at the Bill/Southwell, with a sample hour-long watch on West Cliffs producing 35 Swifts, 6 House Martins and 5 Swallows passing through overhead. Small waders are usually on the move far later than the passerines, so the 40 Ringed Plovers and 9 Sanderling amongst others at Ferrybridge weren't such a surprise; 8 Shelducks also dropped in there. The sea was hardly watched so the lone Balearic Shearwater, along with 14 Common Scoter and 7 commic terns, through off the Bill probably weren't a fair gauge of what may or may not have been on the move offshore.