Spring delivers

The Quoile Pondage produced a good range of birds but no swallows or martins. However I was amply compensated by 2 common sandpipers, 1 little egret, 5 herons, 2 common terns and a pair of mergansers plus all the usual suspects.

WOW today had a full and varied list including 1000 black-headed gulls, 500+ common gulls, 40+ redshank en route to Iceland, 1 ruff, 1 barwit, 400 blackwit,  13 whimbrel and a brief glimpse of a ring-billed gull thanks to Stuart McKee. As usual we had over 30 species even though we looked out on arrival and saw only black-headed gulls by the hundred. The terns haven't arrived yet and the island is still taped off. There are also 6/7 Mediterranean gulls around and we have hopes that they will breed.

Distant whimbrel

Blackwit in full breeding dress

I walked the coastal path twice in the last week and added sandwich tern, reed bunting and meadow pipit.

WOW patch list:    

68 Ring-billed gull
69Whimbrel

West Bangor patch list:
58 Sandwich tern

59 Reed bunting

60 Meadow pipit

2016 list 

128 Common sandpiper

129 Common tern

130 Whimbrel 
131 House martin