16th April

Today was a Bank Holiday Sunday but you'd have never guessed that at the Bill where there were extraordinarily few visiting birders about doing the rounds. What limited coverage there was revealed a slight increase in migrant numbers, with Willow Warblers up to around 60 on the ground at the Bill where hirundines were again moving through pretty steadily all day; sadly, variety wasn't a feature, with 2 Pied Flycatchers at Southwell and a Grey Plover at Ferrybridge the best of the uncommon migrants. A single Little Gull was off the Bill, where 2 Red-throated Divers also passed by.

In the insect line, the first Broad-bodied Chaser of the year was on the wing at the Bill (...marking the point where a lousy view of a dragonfly whizzing past can no longer be assumed to refer to a Vagrant Emperor!).

One of the day's Pied Flycatchers at Southwell © Debby Saunders: