Lovely in the sun looking outdoors but the north-easterly that had gathered strength overnight and reached gale force by dawn saw to it that forays out into the field were a far from pleasant experience. Those that did attempt it were rewarded with what looked to be another new Iceland Gull that lingered off the Bill for a few minutes (with the same or another later at Ferrybridge) and a Sandwich Tern that dropped in at Ferrybridge; a Woodcock at the Bill and some Golden Plovers heard overhead there after dark were the sort of things that might have been expected given the temperature. The rest of the day's reports were more mundane: 19 Red-throated Divers, a Great Northern Diver and Great Skua through off the Bill, 2 Purple Sandpipers there, a Black Redstart at Chesil Cove and a Black-throated Diver through over Ferrybridge.
The Iceland Gull was seemingly the third of the last few days although the first that's lingered long enough for some photos © Joe Stockwell:
Random winter Sandwich Terns are never as numerous in this area as they are at Poole Harbour but they do seem to be getting that bit more frequent in recent years © Debby Saunders:
Black-throated Diver and Red-breasted Merganser were amongst the morning fly-bys at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:
