NWT Holme Dunes

 Rain, rain and more rain....

A very wet start with north-easterly winds. Andy Brown and Greg Beeton watched the sea for a very long 2.5hrs, for little reward, highlight being 30 arctic skuas west. The rain continued all day until about 1700hrs. Robert Smith searched the Forestry just after 1600hrs but found little of note other than a local turtle dove.

NWT Holme Dunes

There was a big clear out overnight with only a handful of pied flycatchers left on site. An icterine warbler in the pines early on was seen by a lucky Phil Amies. At least 17 whimbrel flew west during the day, but the highlight for me was the flock of 23 greenshank calling wildly and circling in a tight flock as they gradually moved west at the back of Holme Marsh.

NWT Holme Dunes

A watch over the sea (0600-0647hrs) saw little other than a notable eastward movement of 110 common terns and 52 Sandwich terns. The only definite movers were 2 teal. Later in the afternoon the strong SSE winds that had been blowing all day gradually began to produce migrants in the pines and along the front edge of the dunes, it was to be part of a very large fall of mostly pied flycatchers along the coast. The rain that was forecast sadly curtailed any further counting, until later when a brief window of opportunity allowed the track and pines to be explored. The count of 40 pied flycatchers was very much an under estimate as the Foresry, Paddocks and saltmarshes were not explored. Other highlights included a tree pipit in off the sea, and good nos of willow warblers, a spotted flycatcher and 2 redstarts. A little earlier in the afternoon Andy Brown and Chris Mills had 9 black terns west and 6 arctic skuas, along with a yellow wagtail and 4 golden plovers in off the sea.

NWT Holme Dunes

A massive concentration of terns off shore (mostly common’s) was the main highlight today, along with 360 gannets feeding off shore at Gore Point (Gary Elton). Clearly fish populations are concentrated in the mouth of The Wash. Two Arctic skuas west were probably “local” for the time being.

NWT Holme Dunes

Black Terns

The morning high tide at the golf course end of Lavender Marsh found a very notable group of 20+ black terns. Later a flock of 17 black-headed gulls south-west were clearly on the move.

NWT Holme Dunes

Early morning saw a “local” spoonbill head west at Gore Point. Closer to The Firs six house martins flew west followed by a tree pipit at around 0930hrs.

NWT Holme Dunes

During the morning a wisp of 6 snipe and 21 golden plover moving west, then later (1900-1930hrs) a look at the sea saw a steady passage of terns, west in to The Wash, including 25 Sandwich tern, 26 common tern and a tight flock of 10 Arctic terns.

NWT Holme Dunes

An early morning walk provided Phil Amies with Holme’s third Caspian tern resting on the beach at Gore Point. The bird was seen by two other observers before flying off. Later in the morning a phone call from Steve Rowlands who was with his family on the beach alerted us that an osprey was heading south-east off the sea. We picked the bird up over Thornham Harbour, the bird giving us fantastic aerobatics as it attempted to hover and catch fish, amongst the irate herring gulls! Later Robert Smith drove to the harbour and found the bird on a kill, only then to find another bird flying around to the east of the harbour!

NWT Holme Dunes

Crossbills

Today at Holme the only sign of any visible migration was of at least two crossbills (unseen) calling over the grazing marshes (Robert Smith) heading south-west, then heard again over the entrance gate by Fiona Skinner heading in the same direction.