For all the mouth-watering promise conjoured up by the words 'early September' and 'east coast bird observatory', sometimes relentless south-westerlies and clear skies conspire to drain the blood from even the most enthusiastic and least jaded of foot soldiers. And so it's been for pretty much all of the last week - happy days for the last of the beach-dwelling tourists, slim pickings for the weirdo in the bushes.
spot the Sooty
Newly-arrived passerines have been all but absent, although a few Goldcrests have joined the small numbers of phylloscs in the hedgerows and top scrub. An evening sea-watching on the 5th was, considering the conditions (as above), enjoyable - the pick of being an pale-morph adult Pomarine Skua and six Sooty Shearwaters ambling north in the golden evening light.
A check on the Dams this morning (6th) was 100% wader-free, which is extraordinary at this time of year; still, a Pintail in front of the (otherwise-deserted) East Pool hide was a modest pleasure, and a new one for the year. Onwards and upwards, it's still early days.
