ME covered The Old Trapping Area, Hotel Garden, Icky Ridge, and Birling lane. RB covered Shooters Bottom and the Belle Tout wood and loop to Birling so virtually between them most of the main Headland sites were covered. Bob and Sarah were ringing in Whitbread Hollow.
Exceptional numbers of Blackcaps were present in the Hollow and nets had to be closed for a period to allow for the birds to be processed. The nets were re-open but again had to be closed due to rain spreading in, so the impressive ringing total would almost certain to be considerably higher. Otherwise night migrants were still in reasonable numbers but not to the same extent than yesterday with the highlights being a Pied Flycatcher in Belle Tout wood and our first Goldcrests for the year with 2 at Birling. Diurnal Migration chiefly was with hirundines mainly Swallows with large numbers moving W but no specific counts or estimates made. A Marsh Harrier passed through the Birling/Belle Tout area and was present for around 10 minutes and seen by both ME and RB.
The following are the combined totals of the observers which includes birds ringed which are also show in brackets.
Marsh Harrier 1 seen Birling/BT area
Tawny Owl 1
Great-spotted Woodpecker 1
Swallow Large numbers moving W but no counts made.
Yellow Wagtail 32
Common Redstart 3
Whinchat 5
Reed Warbler 6 (4)
Lesser Whitethroat 3
Common Whitethroat 60 (7)
Garden Warbler 1
Blackcap Estimated 2,000 in Whitbread Hollow (153) with 43 also seen on the Headland.
Chiffchaff 7 (3)
Willow Warbler 25 (4)
Goldcrest 2 (Our first for this year with none logged at all during the Spring)
Spotted Flycatcher 1 (1)
Pied Flycatcher 1 B/T wood
Clouded Yellow 1
