10th April

Not before time, an enticing veil of cloud overhead at dawn did the trick and dropped the first decent little fall of common migrants of the spring. It was very much a typical early April arrival, with phylloscs dominating everywhere: we'd be surprised if there weren't as many as getting on for 500 through in quick time at the Bill where the ratio was more than 3:2 in favour of Willow Warbler; the back-up cast there included 75 Wheatears, 25 Blackcaps, 2 Redstarts and 2 Goldcrests, with plenty more of the same everywhere that got any coverage. It didn't take long before the cloud cover evaporated and in the subsequent more of less uninterrupted sunshine hirundines got moving in strength: although there was rather lousy coverage at the Bill we'd guess that well in excess of 1000 passed through there, with Sand Martins outnumbering Swallows whenever we were paying attention; a single Osprey also arrived in/off, whilst several of the Common Buzzards that appeared overhead weren't the local resident birds. In comparison, sea passage was a non-event, with 31 Common Scoter, 8 Red-throated Divers and a lone Red-breasted Merganser the best of a bad job at the Bill.