Migrants And A Moth

I am tentatively back in the birding saddle after my bout of vertigo and this morning I headed out for a few hours birding around the Obs. At first light I had clear skies with quite a dense mist that was slow to clear, and the wind was a 5 mph northeasterly.

 There were a few Dunnocks around this morning, but none of them were 

obvious migrants

As I walked along the sea front the 'vis' was immediate and there were quite a few birds on the move including 14 Goldfinches, a Skylark, eleven Alba Wags, 159 Meadow Pipits, three Curlews, three Linnets, a Tree Sparrow, three Lesser Redpolls, four Grey Wagtails, three Reed Buntings and two Chaffinches.

 Meadow Pipit

Linnet

The sea was relatively quiet mainly due to the poor visibility but I did manage to muster a Red-throated Diver, 28 Eiders, five Red-breasted Mergansers, four Common Scoters, a Shelduck, seven Gannets and two Harbour Porpoises that swam into the Bay.

The best bird on the sea, or should I say over, was the first Obs record for this species since 2010 in the form of an Avocet! I picked it up heading south across the Bay and it eventually made landfall and attempted to land on the shingle beach but was put off and headed east, drifting further north into the Bay again. I can only assume it was en route to Leighton Moss and had become disorientated in the mist.

 Avocet

It was also a morning for grounded migrants and first up was a Tree Sparrow on the coast in some brambles before getting flushed by a, you've guessed it a dog walker, followed by three male Wheatears, a male Stonechat, 13 Goldcrests and a Chiffchaff.

 Goldcrest

 Tree Sparrow

Back home on the moth trap was a single Hebrew Character. The forecast looks okay for some more vis tomorrow and I'm going to try a few mist nets and see if I can ring some Meadow Pipits.

 Hebrew Character