A Reasonable Morning In A Quiet Sort Of Way

I was hoping to do some ringing at the 'obs' this morning but the wind forecast last night was just a little to strong for our coastal site. So instead I was out at 5.30 a.m. giving the obs a good grilling by birding only. I had clear skies with a 5-10 mph northeasterly wind.

A couple of Willow Warblers feeding quietly in some Bramble gave me the feeling that there might be a few grounded migrants around on the quiet. I added a further 3 Willow Warblers on my search and a singing Wood Warbler definitely made me think there could be a few grounded birds about. Unusually the Wood Warbler was feeding along the central hedge and giving short bursts of it's 'trilling' song every so often. I came back along this hedge a couple of hours later when it had warmed up but there was no sign of the Wood Warbler.

Other grounded birds included 7 Wheatears, 2 Sedge Warblers, 3 Whitethroats and a single Lesser Whitethroat.

 Wheatear

There was some 'vis' this morning, though not as heavy as recent mornings, and I had 2 Woodpigeons, 30 Linnets, 44 Goldfinch, 4 Siskins, 396 Swallows, 12 Lesser Redpolls, 7 White Wagtails, 2 Tree Pipits, 3 Alba Wags, 5 Whimbrel, Meadow Pipit and 19 House Martins.

It was fairly quiet on the sea, although I did record a couple of 'firsts for the Spring for the site', and I had 15 Cormorants, 13 Gannets, 13 Sandwich Terns, 4 Auk sp., 24 Arctic Terns, 5 Eiders, 6 Common Scoters, 3 Red-throated Divers, 2 Teal, 4 Red-breasted Mergansers and 4 Manx Shearwaters.