10th to 11th April

A bright and breezy 10th was quiet, with the 2 Ruff from a couple of days ago re-located on the flash between Hooking and the School the highlight. The 11th was much better with more cloud-cover and  a lighter wind from the south-west. Both Sand and House Martin made their debut appearances for the year, the latter only a few days past the earliest island record-yet we still await our first Swallow. There were other birds on the move too, with another surge of 91 Skylarks, the majority leaving to the south while 5 Ravens and 5 Rooks also passed through in the same direction. A Jackdaw was also seen, along with a female Sparrowhawk, Black Redstart and a few more Wheatears. The Green-winged Teal was tracked down to Bridesness, and by repeating the behaviour pattern of our wintering bird and close scrutiny revealing some distinctive marks-we are confident it is the same bird which had last been seen in early March.

Ring Ouzel