Saturday, 26th April: A bit grey and murky to start but soon becoming bright and sunny with scattered cloud and a light to moderate breeze, NE3. Remaining sunny most of the day, and fairly warm, but rather hazy at times, especially offshore.
Elmer Rocks: There were some waders moving through on migration, and a few Swallows arriving from the sea, with a few other bits and pieces recorded during my two sessions today from 0830-0930hrs and 1200-1300hrs. My totals during these periods were follows:
Great Crested Grebe - 2 o/s
Gannet - 2E
Oystercatcher - 6E
Whimbrel - 35E, 2W
Bar-tailed Godwit - c.110E
Knot - 1E
Sanderling - 3E
Turnstone - 5
Sandwich Tern - 4E
Swallow - 10N
Goldcrest - 1 (singing male, in fir trees, Poole Place)
Willow Warbler - 3 (two singing, newly arrived, in bushes along back of beach)
Chiffchaff - 2
Blackcap - 3
Whitethroat - 3 (two singing, apparently on territory)
Whimbrel (above) heading east off Elmer Rocks, and (below) flock of Bar-tailed Godwits with a Whimbrel leading.
I made another visit to the undisclosed site (visited on 24th, as below) and found just one Wood Sandpiper still present, together with two Little Ringed Plovers and several Lapwings. A couple of Pied Wagtails and a male White Wagtail were also present.
Wood Sandpiper at an undisclosed site on the patch this morning (once again, distance and heat haze hindered my photographic efforts...)
Thursday, 24th April: Rather cloudy through the morning, though just about remaining dry, with some sunny breaks by afternoon and a fairly light SW breeze 2-3.
Elmer Rocks: I started at the beach this morning, but soon realised there was virtually nothing moving offshore and almost no visible migration going on. A Little Egret went east well offshore, four Sandwich Terns drifted west, three Great Crested Grebes were on the sea and two Swallows arrived. There were three singing Whitethroats along the bushes and a couple of Linnets, but precious little else, so I decided to cut my losses and move on inland a bit.
Singing Whitethroat behind Elmer Rocks, at the set-aside hedge
As it turned out, my decision to head inland was a good one, but due to access restrictions and other potential site difficulties, I cannot give further details about the location visited. What I can say is that I located three Redshanks, half a dozen Lapwings - and then, not one, but two Wood Sandpipers. These smart birds are always very welcome on any birding year-list. It was necessary to maintain some distance, and the birds were frequently obscured by vegetation, but I managed to obtain some hazy record shots, as below:
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