Saturday 18th April

Whimbrel were a feature of the day with at least 78 arriving from the east during the morning, with birds heading into the estuary. Small groups were then present in Greenland Lake and estuary, with well  >100 through during the day.

Other visible migrant arrivals included at least 10 Wheatear and five Whitethroat but the two highlights remained unseen, a Cuckoo heard calling distantly from Warren Point and a Grasshopper Warbler reeling along Wryneck Plain. 

Wheatear - Dave Jewell

Elsewhere a 2CY Caspian Gull and a 5CY Yellow-legged Gull were on the beach, 21 Sandwich Tern, four Great Northern and three Red-throated Diver, the female Eider and a Dark-bellied Brent Goose were offshore and counts from the estuary included 43 Dunlin, 22 Bar-tailed Godwit, 15 Sanderling, eight Greenshank, five Grey Plover, five Ringed Plover and three Knot.

 Yellow-legged Gull  - Lee Collins

Year List additions:
134. Grasshopper Warbler
133. Cuckoo

Other Wildlife: A couple of late Sand Crocus were in flower in a damp patch below the Back Path at start of Greenland Lake, at least a week later than all the others. New emergences buried in the dune turf included Bird's-foot, Changing Forget-me-not and Subterranean Clover. 

Sand Crocus - Alan Keatley

Changing Forget-me-not - Kevin Rylands

Subterranean Clover - Kevin Rylands

A mix of insects included Common Furrow Bee Lasioglossum calceatum and Fleabane Tortoise Beetle Cassida murraea in Greenland Lake, a horsetail sawfly Red-backed Weeper Dolerus aericeps on its foodplant.in the Buffer Zone, and new for the Recording Area, a Hawthorn Leaf Beetle Lochmaea crataegi along the Back Path. 

Common Furrow Bee Lasioglossum calceatum - Alan Keatley

In the dunes, species found included a clover seed weevil Protapion apricans, a tiny mould beetle Cortinicara gibbosa, the beet bug Parapiesma quadratum and an Epaulet Ladybird Rhyzobius chrysomeloides.

Protapion apricans - Alan Keatley

Cortinicara gibbosa - Alan Keatley

Parapiesma quadratum - Alan Keatley