31st July

No change in the freakishly hot weather but just a sniff of a few more migrants about - perhaps our needy cause was assisted by the New Moon and certainly wasn't harmed by a veil of cloud overhead for a while after dawn. Willow Warblers accounted for the bulk of the passerine arrivals, with 30 at the Bill and at least a handful elsewhere; the trickle of passing hirundines reached nearly 50 Swallows and 20 Sand Martins, whilst the odd extra Wheatear and Sedge Warbler also made the list. Other than that there was right old hotch-potch of back-up newcomers including 7 Shoveler through at Ferrybridge, an increase in Swifts (more than 50 through and several dozen lingering later in the day), 26 south-bound Lesser Black-backed Gulls and singles of Little Egret, Grey Heron, Whimbrel, Redshank and Common Gull at the Bill. The sea got long looks with a peculiarly heavy passage of 78 Black-headed Gulls through off the Bill being quite unexpected; 210 Gannets, 8 Manx and 5 Balearic Shearwaters were the best of the rest there.

Shovelers certainly aren't July regulars - this is the group that passed over at Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:


And nor are Common Gulls - especially juveniles - to be expected at this juncture:

Finally, it looks to have been a good year for Barn Owls around the island: we're aware of several breeding pairs and, having already ringed a couple of nestlings in a box at the Bill, this evening the stalwart nightshift of Mark Cutts and Verity Hill trapped their first fully-fledged youngster of the season © Martin Cade/Verity Hill: