23rd March

With overnight rain and the wind in the SW I was expecting an arrival of Blackbirds or Robins at dawn but it was a bit disappointing with only 12 new Blackbirds trapped; the sea was much more interesting with a good passage of Gulls heading north pretty much throughout the day with a 2^nd year Glaucous Gull the highlight amongst totals of 710+ Common Gulls, 55 Black-headed Gulls, 400+ Herring Gulls, 165+ Great Black-backed Gulls and 75 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.   Other birds heading north included 59 Curlew, a few flocks of Oystercatchers, 2 Goosander and 4 Red-throated Divers while the White-billed Diver, 2 Great-northern Divers and a Red-necked Grebe were on the sea.

                There was little around the coast with another Red-necked Grebe off Verevågen the only thing of note before a brief spell of rain in the afternoon produced a sudden arrival of 90+ Blackbirds at the afternoon which hung around for less than five minutes before they all headed off back inland!

 

There wasn't much to photograph around the area, so half an hour in Borhaug Harbour late afternoon when the sun came out produced this Long-tailed Duck, Little Grebe and Velvet Scoter