Good weather; good patch birds : So why am I still frustrated ?
After many days of heavy rain and winds, which nevertheless failed to produce seabirds here it all calmed down yesterday. Excellent, I thought, Wains Hill vizmig here I come. After an initial burst of a few chaffinches and a single flock of Redwings that all dried up so I met my wife in a cafe as it was our last chance before lock-down 2. While there I got a phone call from Steve to say he was watching a Snow Bunting down to 6 feet (later to become 2 Snow Bunts). So after lunch I set off to the Yeo. The tide was now fully out and the buntings were thought to have vanished into the, impenetrable, saltmarsh. Sure enough there was neither sight nor sound of anything except rock pipits , and a single Meadow Pipit on an unattractive fence As I left the concrete path to walk the short distance to the next gate I saw a small bird flash from one low bramble to another and heard a quiet and brief, harsh churr call. I was instantly alert to a likely Dartford Warbler as they tend to move late in