19th May

Calmer weather gave a chance to mist net in Holland gardens, resulting in a fair number of migrants trapped, and proved just how much must be missed in there on windy days. The best of which was an icterine warbler, with a 2nd bird seen at Greenwall. The days list of other warblers included 2 wood, 21 garden, 22 willow, 1 reed, 5 chiffchaff, 7 lesser whitethroat, 16 whitethroat and a blackcap. 2 robin are an unusual May record, 3 bluethroat were seen and a cuckoo was seen at Holland. Interesting wagtails consisted 3 grey-headed at Ancum and a male blue -headed at Brides, 4 sparrowhawk were seen and an early afternoon highlight was of a honey buzzard flying north. The rest of the days sightings were; 153 knot, 7 common sandpiper, a short-eared owl, a swift, 21 house martin, 15 tree pipit, 2 whinchat, 14 redstart, 10 spotted and 6 pied flycatcher and a count of 57 lesser black-backed gulls is worth a mention.