Fantastic Four!

Spring Ouzel! Feeding with Redwing (Andy Denton)

Bonnie lad! Cracking Goldfinch stops over (David Kinchin-Smith)

Our first Willow Warbler of the year (Will Scott)

Black Redstart showing well (David Kinchin-Smith)

Monday 15th April comments: So it’s been a while since our last blog and finally it feels like spring migration is underway! Despite the westerly winds today has been a nice day of birding with some great highlights.

Four firsts for the year were seen today, starting with a House Martin seen early on in the day, just after an immature Glaucous Gull was seen to fly over a Black Redstart! Migration in action!!! Later on another first for the year came in the form of a stunning male Ring Ouzel! The bird was discovered feeding on the dock bank area of Inner Farne, catching plenty of worms and, as many migrant birds do, using the Farnes as a fuelling station before heading north to breed in Scandanavia.

Shortly after that the first Willow Warbler of the year was found fly catching out on the open rocks, along with ten Wheatear! As the team were watching this a brief fly-by sighting of a Sand Martin brought tally to four new birds for the year in one day! An action packed few hours! One of the best things about these birds is that we were able to share them with several very happy visitors!

The rough weather has made for a tough start for our seabirds but they are slowly starting to return to the islands. This evening 195 Sandwich Terns roosted, along with four Common Terns and two Arctic Terns. These birds have come from as far away as Antarctica and it’s great to have them back, even if they will be pecking our heads in a few weeks’ time!!!