14th May

Still breezy at first light but this soon dropped away to nothing leaving a glorious sunny, warm, calm day; there were a few birds in the nets including 7 Lesser Redpolls, 2 Fieldfares, 3 Lesser Whitethroats and 2 Siskins but the main action was on the sea where a good morning produced a smart adult Pomarine Skua, an excellent total of 519 Red-throated Divers, 2 Arctic Skuas, a few Arctic Terns, a single Purple Sandpiper, a group of 5 Wood Sandpipers north and the adult White-tailed Eagle again.   The day’s highlights however came mid-morning just as we were finishing up seawatching as a SERIN flew low over the bunker calling loudly and ten minutes later a cracking BEE-EATER appeared overhead and went and perched on the edge of Lebeltet giving great scope views – with the weather it was just like the Mediterranean for a second!

                Also of note were the local House Martins returning for the first time to inspect their nest sites around the lighthouse buildings and the first female Wheatears spring-trapped with well-developed brood patches.

                The afternoon didn’t really live up to the good morning with the coast being pretty quiet with just 3 Turnstone and a pair of Gadwall in Sevika but there was a bit of action on Vågsvollvåien early evening as three Ruff flew in with 3 Dunlin (including two brilliant breeding plumaged males, a white one and a black one!) and shortly afterwards a smart Temminck’s Stint appeared as if by magic standing on a rock –both firsts for the year.   There were just 5 Dotterel remaining on the field at Vågsvoll.

 - I read a black / white ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull on Vågsvollvåien on the 11^th and it turned out to have a good life history of re-sightings; it was ringed as an adult on a landfill site on Guernsey in May 2013 (presumably just as a late passage migrant), then seen in successive winters in Malaga Harbour before I saw it up here, presumably near its breeding grounds.

 

Temminck's Stint

Ruff

White-tailed Eagle

Wheatear

Whinchat