An excellent birding day with lots of good birds! The day started with a north east wind dropping in speed from the previous two days to a force 5, the majority of the day staying dry. By the end of the day the wind switched to an easterly direction. The seawatch was again full of diversity. A Black Guillemot north at 0903 was the highlight with single Great Northern and Black-throated Diver, 1 Balearic Shearwater, 9 Velvet Scoter (4 south, 5 north) 4 Pomarine Skua, 3 Long-tailed Skua, 2 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Little Auk. Little Gulls continue to be seen with 292 north of which 286 were adults.
Up to 4 Grey Phalaropes were recorded 1 off Smithick cliff, south of the Lighthouse at 0850 followed by a further 3 at South Landing on the sea between 1030 and 1122! Duck numbers gathered on the sea off Booted Gulley late in the day with Goldeneye, Long-tailed Duck, 3 Pintail and 5 Velvet Scoter recorded.
On the land the bird of the day was a Little Bunting found at Holmes Gut. 2 Barred Warblers were also new with 1 in Old Fall late afternoon. The Shore Lark was again in ploughed fields on the south cliffs. Red-breasted Flycatcher, Siberian Chiffchaff and Great Grey Shrike continued to show well in Old Fall along with numbers of common migrants and a late Garden Warbler. Up to 4 Yellow-browed Warblers were recorded with 1 at Hartendale and up to 3 at South Landing, A Lapland Bunting was found near Booted Gulley, a Snow Bunting near Old Fall and a Black Redstart at South Landing. Other migrant totals included 4 Ring Ouzel, 2 Redstarts and 1 Jay.
At Buckton 5 Ring Ouzel (1 caught and ringed), 2 Fieldfare, 40 Redwing, 4 Brambling, Wheatear, 5 Stonechat, 1st W Mediterranean Gull, 2 Common Redpoll, Woodcock, 3 Chiffchaff, 82 Goldcrest were ringed and Short-eared Owl were present.
- Shore Lark by Tony Dixon