Waders should begin to feature more prominently before long so we took the arrival of a group of Knot at Ferrybridge as an encouraging omen © Pete Saunders:
16th April
Not a day of plenty on the land, sea or overhead, in fact for this date it was a bit of a shocker with only the continuing Western Subalpine Warbler at Wallsend allowing us to salvage some pride. Wheatear was the only one of the commoner migrants to manage double figures - in fact most posted no more than one or zero on the day-sheet; a Cuckoo at Pennsylvania Castle, a Short-eared Owl at the Bill, single Redstarts at the Bill and Southwell and 8 Knot and a Little Ringed Plover at Ferrybridge did provide a few crumbs of comfort in the otherwise futile quest for scarcity satiation.
