Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Coastal birding was made of Sterna stuff

Dan here. I too was out and about on the patch today so you lucky bloggers will get 2 for the price of one today.

A few bits and pieces today but sadly nothing mega. My best sightings were as follows:

A flock 6 arctic terns heading East inland mid-morning (cf. today's mammoth tern passage at Heysham).

A flock of 65 bar-tailed godwits headed upstream NNW and up over Snatchems.

Up to 8 whimbrel in typical haunts. A greenshank and a wigeon Freeman's Pony Pools.

Two pulses of common swifts (18 and 13 NE early morning--my first of the year here ).

A male whinchat on the marsh by Gull Bank was also a patch year tick.

The next best passerines included two garden warblers (thanks Garry), a flyover tree pipit and 35 NE-bound sand martins.

Breeding wader interest came in the form of 3 lapwing chicks and 3 adult little ringed plovers.

Fourteen eider drifted up the river on the rising tide. Pictured: a whitethroat, hawthorns and insects...

DH

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