Locustella

Yellow Wagtail - Orcombe Point. One of five yesterday.

Orcombe Point from 0710 - an improvement in variety in clear conditions this morning. Heading west - 315+ Meadow Pipits, 1+ Reed Bunting, 4+ Siskins, 15+ Chaffinches, c40+ Linnets, 65+ Goldfinches (with an additional flock of c40 in the top fields), 28+ alba Wagtails and 1 Tree Pipit. A small number of Skylarks were moving too. Also up there this morning - 1 Firecrest, c25 Chiffchaffs, 1 Stonechat, 3 Blackcaps, 30+ Swallows, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Coal Tit and 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Mudbank - 1150+ Wigeon, 200+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 4+ Pale-bellied Brent Geese, just 2 Pintail, the Pintail x Wigeon hybrid, c100 Shelduck, 21 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Grey Plover (my first in quite some time), 3 Dunlin, 7 Greenshank, 38+ Redshank, 1+ Kingfisher and a Rook (unusual to see one feeding on the mud off there). Across the river - c10/15+ Cattle Egrets in cattle fields somewhere between (and behind) Starcross and Cockwood.

Yesterday - Orcombe Point - 5 Yellow Wagtails, 1+ Wheatear and 1 locustella sp - presumably a Grasshopper Warbler but at this time of year I'd have liked a proper look! It flew out of long grass and flipped over a hedge looking a little darker than I'd have expected. Also - c20+ Swallows into a cold northerly wind and c20/30+ Meadow Pipits.

Mudbank - 5 Pale-bellied Brent Geese with 200+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese on Cockle Sands. Also - 9 Greenshank, 21 Redshank, 27 Black-tailed Godwits, 10 Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Whimbrel and 2 Turnstones.

A quick look at Blackhill Quarry revealed this sleepy redhead Goosander, 4 Tufted Ducks, 1 Coot, 1 Kingfisher and a Little Grebe.