Saturday

Another good day out with fifty five species and two new ticks. The Whimbrel had stayed overnight and four fed quite close to the road. The Black tailed Godwit had largely departed although 2-3 remained, I did a quick total of the number brought in yesterday and it runs at 110 Prestwick Carr, 75 Druridge, 32 Holywell Pond and 26 Earsdon. That's 243 in Northumberland. A check with the latest Webs report puts the 1% threshold at 430 (up from 150) so we could have seen 1/2 % or more of the breeding population in one day.

 Overhead Easyjet managed to avoid a collision with the Moon

But the Swallows were far more adept closer to the ground. Mid afternoon I got a call from Alan & Howdon Blogger that there was a Wheatear on patch so I deserted Newcastle who were three down at the time and joined him for views of a very clean male bird. No pics as it hid from the wind behing a dip in the ground.

I did however later get a shot of my first Swift of the year. That's 87 on the PC list so far.