With the northeasterly having upped a notch and scarcely a cloud in the sky the day's action looked likely to be upward - and so it proved with a veritable avalanche of
hirundines on the move on the broadest of fronts (presumably they were coasting and strayed out to sea before heading back north on a front that at the Bill stretched from way out to sea off East Cliffs, right across to well beyond West Cliffs). Meaningful coverage of the passage was next to impossible but from sample counts it seemed likely that well in excess of 7000
Swallows and 2500
House Martins had passed through by 8am, with many more in the ensuing few hours;
Meadow Pipits were surprisingly nowhere near as numerous with no more than the low hundreds through, whilst accompanying
wagtails and the like weren't really at all well represented. Also overhead, there was uncertainty regarding how many individuals were involved in a series of
Hobby sightings throughout the day, a
Hen Harrier paused for a while over the Crown Estate Field, the
Marsh Harrier was still about there and a party of 8
Raven heading west high over the Bill were an oddity. Despite the strength of the wind it remained remarkably warm all day and there was plenty of incentive to get out and about on the ground even if the rewards were negligible at best, with new arrivals few and far between and only lingerers like singles of
White Wagtail and
Pied Flycatcher providing interest at the Bill. The sea provided some further movement, including 30
Balearic Shearwaters, 10
Wigeon, 5
Arctic Skuas, 4
Teal and 2
Brent Geese through off the Bill.
The Hen Harrier was the third species of harrier hunting over the Countryside Stewardship crops in the Crown Estate Field in a little over a week; a Monties also visited the field a year or two back but, what with all the glad rags and aides he has to budget for, we're not sure that Mr Starmer is going to have enough dosh left in the kitty to keep funding our stewardship deal long enough for a Northern Harrier to make it a nice little quintet © Martin Cade:
The lingering Pied Flycatcher at the Obs © Martin King:
