28th July 2018

Early morning conditions were very different to most days in the last few weeks. Much breezier from the SW and significantly cooler. Five Willow Warblers, four Lesser Whitethroats and eight Whitethroats across the golf course. Little else was across the area and the wind was increasing so Phil, Jack and I descended to St. Margaret’s Bay.

Two of the first birds we saw at 09.50 were Balearic Shearwaters which moved extremely rapidly up channel. Over the next three hours we had seven Common Scoters and a Whimbrel down channel, 19 Mediterranean Gulls, including a colour ringed individual, two Gadwall and two Shags. Overhead and out to sea Swifts were moving. We were up to 1 404 by the time we left. As I sit and write this now at 1500, they are still going in small numbers. A Common Seal and a Grey Seal were also present in The Bay.

This colour ringed juvenile Mediterranean Gull is from a Belgian ringing scheme. The bird was ringed in Antwerp on 9th June and seen at Thames Barrier Park on 16th July (Richard Heading)