31st March

Whilst today saw a slight upturn in proceedings, it's fair to say that March fizzled out with a whimper rather than a bang. An Osprey arriving in/off was the highlight of the day's overhead passage, which also saw Sand Martin numbers building to an impressive 127 in an hour around midday; Linnets are also beginning to feature more strongly, with 70 from a sample two hour watch on West Cliffs and plenty more at other times. On the ground, a Ring Ouzel at Barleycrates was the pick of a thinnish scatter that also included at least 3 White Wagtails, 3 Black Redstarts and a lingering Firecrest. The surprises from the Bill seawatches - 10 Canada Geese and 2 Mute Swans - were not really the sort of things to excite, with 24 Sandwich Terns and 15 Red-throated Divers the best of the more routine passage.