30th September

Sadly, a bit of a shocker with the much anticipated seawatch that it was believed would result from a vicious overnight gale that was still blowing for the best part of the day coming to next to nothing - can anyone actually remember a single really good seawatch at the Bill in such conditions? What rewards there were from the sea - 19 Balearic Shearwaters, 17 Common Scoter, 3 Common Terns, 2 Arctic Skuas, 2 Sandwich Terns and a Great Skua - resulted as much from the pointlessness of undertaking most other serious birding what with any patches of cover being completely blown out. The exception to these bleak prospects on the land proved to be vismigging, with decent totals of 1200 Swallows, 100 Meadow Pipits, 80 House Martins, a Merlin and a few other odds and ends battling through overhead at the Bill.