two west rise ticks today. the red-rumped swallow was inevitable - after three springs of watching here i had a feeling this year would be the one. shows what patch birding is about when you get nearly as excited about seeing a knot!

rumper!

bit of rain did the job today. lots to see at west rise, lake crawling with hirundines mostly sand martins (house martin year tick!), 2 common sands, a dozen yellow wags including the bird in the pic below, hobby, swift, 2 lesser whitethroats singing in the carpark. wish i'd had more than half an hour, days like these are the best of west rise birding.

on 24th did a seawatch at splash point. highlights: flock of 13 eider (year tick!), arctic skuas, nice views of little gulls, btd, mixed flocks of brents and waders high up. lots of brent for such a late date, nearly 1000 and passage heaviest when i was leaving