The plan was a quick whizz around the Lockwood and then on to the marsh as the weather brightened for all the grounded Passerines.....yeah right!
The visibility was none so good, which was good. Kevin, who was staked out on the Southern end, as is his wont, had already had 5 Wheatears on the East bank of the Lockwood but nothing much else. I had barely gone a couple of hundred metres when I picked up a Black Tern, I checked it out and realised there were two, possibly three. It was very difficult in the whirling mass of Terns to keep an eye on individuals and I thought I was seeing the odd Arctic Tern amongst them too.
There were a lot, 30-40 or so, of Swifts, and hundreds of Sand Martins with a handful of Swallows. Probably half a dozen Common Sandpipers dotted around and increasing numbers of Pied Wagtails, with a few Grey Wagtails were the only other things of note. I saw three or four Wheatears and the Red-breasted Goose flew South, on its own.
When I got back to the Southern end I tried counting the Black Terns and made it three, then none, then four, then one. I was confused until I noticed that they were going up high with the Swifts. Eventually I managed a definite six Birds at any one time.
By now I had spent too long for a trip onto the marsh so went home. At about 13:00 I did spot a large Raptor heading West, probably over the marsh, I called Lol who was on the East Warwick but it was too high for him and I lost sight of it too, another one that got away. A probable Hobby went West just after. Maybe there will be more Raptors now the weather has broken, but not for me.
PW
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