Thursday 13th May

A day of continuing dampness with 10 times as much rain in 24hrs than through all of April! The overnight deluge did drop in a further migratory pulse of waders. The highlight was a Little Stint, the first May record since 2009, with the first Ruff of the year also amongst the 230 Dunlin. 

There was sign of either on the evening tide but only about 60 Dunlin were present. Other counts included 46 Whimbrel, 38 Sanderling, nine Turnstone, seven Bar-tailed Godwit, six Knot, two Grey Plover, two Dark-bellied Brent Geese and a colour-ringed Greenshank. 

Greenshank - Lee Collins. Ringed as a juvenile at Farlington Marshes, Hampshire in autumn 2006.

Offshore eight Great Northern Diver (six south & two on the sea), two Great-crested Grebe, eight Sandwich Tern and a first summer Mediterranean Gull. Elsewhere the Lesser Whitethroat was along the Back Path and two Wheatear, one a Greenland race bird, were on the Golf Course.