Today’s clear highlight was the Nuthatch trapped by the ringing team in the early afternoon in Top Scrub – a local rarity and a big surprise! Also in the same area were two Redpoll, five Brambling and four Lesser Whitethroats. The year’s first Little Ringed Plover dropped in a the Dams before heading east, while raptor passage on a warm and sunny day included a Marsh Harrier thermalling with no fewer than 13 Common Buzzards west of the Dams mid-a.m. and a Red Kite over Primrose Valley.
Visible migration at Hunmanby Gap included a Red Kite, 200 Common Gulls and 16 Arctic Terns south, a Wheatear west, a handful of hirundines and Yellow Wagtails and strong finch passage, which included 11 Crossbills, 546 Linnets, a Brambling, 183 Chaffinches and 47 Siskins south. Smaller numbers at Reighton Sands also included 58 Meadow Pipits north.
Yesterday (18th) saw two male Mandarins at East Lea (hot on the heels of the female at the Dams a few days ago), and the Greenshank also there; as well as the usual wildfowl, passerines across both the latter sites included four lesser Redpolls, five Redwings, 10 Siskins, a Brambling, ten Chiffchaffs and ten Blackcaps. Single Knot and Wheatear were on the Brigg. Vismig at the Gap was again productive particularly for finches, with 302 siskins, 380 Linnets, 235 Goldfinches, 94 Chaffinches and 13 redpoll spthrough, as well as a single Arctic Tern, eight Yellow wagtails, a Grey Plover and a handful of hirundines. A single Arctic Tern and 28 Carrion Crows south-east were the best of a still quiet sea.
A Greenshank arrived at the Dams on 17th, where all three hirundines were hawking in the fog, while visinle migration was quiet and grounded migrants were few (although included a good scattering of the exptected warblers). Two Whimbrels were among the few waders on the Brigg.