Late May sea-watching

Leaving home at 06.00 on Wednesday 25^th I headed for Long Nab in the hope that the strong northerly winds would spark off some movement offshore.
Dressed in clothing that I would expect to wear in November rather than late May, I staggered northwards into a F 5 – 6 wind en route to the Hut.

Once set up and the kettle boiling I began my watch, it was a slow start. Auks, Gannets and Kittiwakes were allocated clickers and it was sometime before I put pen to paper to log something different – a Fulmar.
Luckily things picked up from then on, sort of. Fulmars were moving in steady numbers, the first Manx Shearwater cruised through and I noted the odd Puffin too.
Still it remained like that for a while, my initial early morning hopes of Skuas looked to be dashed until at 08.10 I locked on to a rather large looking dark Skua. It wasn’t too far out and despite watching it fly straight through (putting the shits up a Kittiwake or two on the way) there was no denying it was an Arctic Skua.
Still it was my first of the year and was very quickly followed by my second only two minutes later, this time a nice pale phased bird.

After all that excitement it was time for a sit down and another hot drink as I settled back into the reality of the day, although tubenoses had picked up a little more, approaching 4 – 5 Manx every 10 minutes!!

A few more species were added to the notebook over the next half an hour – Sandwich Tern and Red-throated Diver.

At 09.40 my third Skua of the day flew north, another Arctic Skua but this time an intermediate bird.
The only other species added after the final Skua and before my finish time were 7 Common Scoter north.

I called it at 11.20 and left for home. A generally quiet day although I have never seen more than one Arctic Skua in a single day in May in Scarborough before – so there’s that!

Other totals came out at 2 Red-throated Diver S, 152 Fulmar N, 69 Manx N, 308 Gannet S – 211 N, 2 Wigeon N, 1073 Auk N - 139 S, 46 Puffin N - 1 S and 3 Sandwich Tern S - 2 N.

Long Nab

View from the hut looking north with Hundale Point and Roger Trod visible in the distance

View from the hut looking south towards Scarborough and Castle Hill

The lull continues…

I was hoping that Tuesday 17^th was going to be a decent day at Long Nab for passage so bright and early I met Steve outside the pub and we headed off up the coast, arriving at Crook Ness for about 06.35.
With the winds slightly lighter than I thought they would be, although still from the desired south-westerly direction, passage wasn’t exactly in full swing.
In fact it was very slow, the odd Hirundine now and again was about it!

The sea was, as expected, quiet, a Ringed Plover came in and flew south, a Whimbrel was heard heading north and a few Sandwich Tern were logged moving in both directions.
Over land southbound Swallows reached 154 by the time we finished at just gone 11.20, also south were 8 House Martin and a single Sand Martin.
The walk south along the cliffs wasn’t exactly amazing either, a single Wheatear was in the field just north of Scalby Lodge Pond was one of only two new in migrants noted, the other being a second singing male Sedge Warbler in the Style Scrub area, the first has been around a while now and is showing no signs of giving up on trying to attract a female.

Scalby Lodge Pond itself was poor with a single Redshank on offer!
A Slow Worm was seen crossing the Cleveland Way near Scalby Lodge Pond.

Work on the Tuesday night meant once again I had little sleep before the alarm got me up and about on 18^th. I was again bound for Long Nab where I met up with Chris for what proved to be another quiet session.

On the move south were a few Swallows, totalling 59 by the end of the watch at 13.20, along with single Sand Martin and 8 House Martin.
Interest at sea was provided with 2 Puffin north and a steady stream of Sandwich Tern heading south, 186 by 13.20.

Sandwich Terns heading south

Again the walk back was quiet, a third singing Sedge Warbler had joined the two other territorial males along the cliffs north of Scalby Lodge Pond while a Willow Warbler arrived in at Trough Gully and quickly moved off inland.

The final leg of the walk was just as uneventful though I did stumble on another Slow Worm, this one not so active as yesterday’s in the colder conditions so a few more pictures could be taken.
The pair of Stonechat were again on Scalby Nab, unfortunately though no sign of young yet.

Stonechats on Scalby Nab

Slow Worm on Scalby Nab, my second in as many days

Up close and personal

A pint in the Old Scalby Mills Pub was a fitting way to end another day in the field.

Mid May lull!

It’s been pretty fast paced birding in Scarborough so far this month, with some hideously long shifts at work the last few days and with good birds still turning up it’s been hard to keep up with daily sightings updates as well as entering records into the report database.It’s all good though, with Steve and Tony dropping on a GREAT EGRET at Wykeham South Lake and Rob stumbling across a female Red-backed Shrike at Ravenscar the next day it has given me all the motivation I need to get myself out into the field at the next opportunity – Sunday 15^th.
After only 2 and a half hours sleep on Saturday night/Sunday morning I was up and heading to Long Nab with Nick.As usual the first hour was spent in the hut, that kettle doesn’t half get some usage!Action over the sea was pretty similar to what it was like last time I was here, Auks and Kittiwakes moving north providing much of the interest, although they were passing in larger numbers with 1454 Auks and 649 Kittiwakes logged.Highlights were 3 Goosander, 12 Manx Shearwater and 4 Whimbrel.As ever, I got itchy feet and left Nick to counting while I had a walk round. I needed to do something to keep my awake, having only 2 hours sleep and counting Auks is a quick way to drop off!Migrant wise it was dead, 2 Wheatear and a new singing Chiffchaff by Clifftop House were about the lot.
Whilst checking Hundale though I came across a dead female Chaffinch, one baring one of our rings, not too surprisingly, we do catch good numbers of Chaffinches here.

The Chaffinch ring - unfortunately not an amazing recovery, it was one of the birds ringed on 24th April this year.

Another session in the hut was about as productive as the first and by now even Nick was ready for a change of scenery so we both split up to check as many areas as possible.

Not long into my walk I came across a Ring Ouzel in the apple tree just south of the hut having presumably just arrived. It soon moved to Crook Ness where the local Blackbirds gave it some hassle and forced it off south along the cliffs.

Ring Ouzel just south of Crook Ness

Very little else was in the area but with news of Nick stumbling across a Garden Warbler, a rather scarce passage migrant at Long Nab I was enthused! It doesn’t take much!
Not long after that though a ‘tacking’ caught my attention in the hedges just east of Clifftop House, it eventually gave a brief view but confirmed itself as an acro, and it didn’t half look interesting based on the brief view I had.
I followed it by call as it moved north along the hedge occasionally giving the odd fleeting glimpse, not good enough though, so I called Nick on the radio for some help.
Unfortunately not too long after I had shouted him up it wandered into the territory of a Whitethroat which proceeded to kick the crap out of this unsuspecting acro which then flew west over open fields and towards a maze of hedges criss-crossing private land!
Searches of the hedge by Rocks Lane failed to produce it or anything else. Really frustrating!

After leaving Long Nab with the Mrs I decided to take a trip to Ravenscar on the off chance that female Red-backed Shrike was still in the area – it wasn’t.
A walk around in an attempt to locate a few migrants was a total failure with nothing new in evident at all.
So a rather quiet day all in all.
Looks like a change in the wind to the southwest is forecast for early next week, hopefully the recent northerlies will have held things up and the change will bring with it a good vis-mig session or two.

Steady away

For me Wednesday 11th began standing outside the Courts by the Police station!

Luckily I wasn’t there long or for any other reason than meeting up with Nick and Steve, and so by 06.15 I was in the car with both of them as we headed north for Long Nab and all those fresh in migrants!

HA!

A check of Crook Ness on arrival revealed nothing new, so as usual we headed to the hut for a while before getting stuck into it.
Clicking Auks and Kittiwakes really wasn’t what I had in mind for today but with very little happening at sea that seemed the only thing to do!
Passage highlights included singles of Buzzard, Ringed Plover and a Dunlin north while Kittiwakes numbered 642 north.
After a hot brew and an hour or so I, along with Steve decided it was time to have a walk round the site and so we set off north towards the ‘promised land’!

Kittiwakes heading north

The walk there was quiet and so was the plantation, in fact there was nothing to suggest anything new was in at all!
It wasn’t until we reached Long Hedge that we found our first migrant, a Willow Warbler that had just arrived in and was moving west along the hedge, this was soon followed by a Wheatear near the White House.
Unfortunately though that was it, the rest of the walk produced nothing of note before we headed back to the hut for food.

Wheatear by the White House

Getting desperate

Once in the hut I remembered how quiet the sea was, although a couple of Manx Shearwater north in quick succession provided some interest and me with a year tick.

A walk south sounded like a good idea and so once again we left Nick to it and began walking the cliffs. It was as predicted quiet with nothing seen at all until we approached the field north of Scalby Lodge Pond where a single Wheatear and a pair of Whinchat were feeding, the latter being a welcome year tick.

Scalby Lodge Pond itself was birdless although we did hear the Grey Plover which sounded like it was heading down into Jackson’s Bay.
With Terns and Waders plus yesterday’s Osprey being reported from Wykeham South Lake we opted to head inland, Nick pulled in at Scalby Lodge, we jumped in and we were off.

My luck with Terns has been abysmal so far here but it did finally change, getting out the car Chris and Tony were already on a flock of 11 Arctic Tern which headed out northeast. That was it though, no more passed through in the hour and a half we were in the area!
Waders grounded there included a Greenshank and 3 Sanderling.

A fine looking Turtle Dove was showing well along the track near Straits Lane, the best view I’ve had in years and possibly the last good view I’ll ever get! How depressing is that!
The flood at Straits Lane held singles of Ringed and Little Ringed Plover as well as 13 Redshank.

Turtle Dove Straits Lane

Causeway Lake was our last stop in the Wykeham South Lake area where 2 Reed Warbler were chuntering away.

Back to the coast it was, Castle Hill to be precise where me and Steve saw next to nothing during our circuit there.

Double Whammy!

After finishing work at 11.00 I headed off inland with a session at Wykeham South Lake in mind, hoping to actually connect with a few Terns heading out east.

Between 11.40 and 15.20 not a single Tern passed through, rather disappointing. Still during that time there were a few things to keep one interested whilst basking in the warm sun by the viewpoint, the only thing missing was a beer, and a Tern or two of course.
Highlight was an Osprey I picked up coming in from the southwest at about 13.40, it flew round a bit before heading over to Causeway Lake where it soon returned carrying a fish which it took off west and dropped out of sight behind the trees.
Waders were clearly on the move, 44 Redshank, a Dunlin and a Ringed Plover were headlined by a Wood Sandpiper that headed northeast. Later 24 (presumably some of the birds mentioned above) Redshank were down on a flood at Straits Lane and were accompanied by a single Whimbrel.
Present at the Lakes were 4 Pink-footed and a Barnacle Goose, 2 Common Sandpiper and a Redshank.

A sunny Wykeham South Lake

A short break that afternoon was very welcome but I had one goal in mind for that evening – head to Seamer Mead and Star Carr in an attempt to relocate the Stone Curlew, however it wasn't seen this morning so my chances of finding it had dwindling surely?
It was again a pleasant walk however out across the Carrs, yesterday’s Wood Sandpiper was still present along with 7 Wheatear while a fly over Greenshank was my first of the year. Watching the many Swifts feeding out over Star Carr to the backdrop of Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat song was very enjoyable, unfortunately I couldn't find a Red-footed Falcon or even a Hobby for that matter despite looking up a lot!
Even more unfortunate was the absence of the Stone Curlew!
With the Mrs getting hungry (I was too) we decided to head back to the car and head home. A check of Seamer Tip pool first produced 2 Pink-footed Geese, a few Tufted Duck and juvenile Coot and a Spotted Flycatcher was feeding along the perimeter hedge.

Buzzard and Carrion Crow over Seamer Mead

One of two Pink-footed Geese (and a Greylag) at Seamer Tip

Back at home, oven on and food well on its way to being ready, the worst happened! John Harwood had located the Stone Curlew, almost a mile to the east of where I had been.
Now, I have become a professional at begging, as I guess most blokes (birders) in a committed relationship have, and so the oven was turned off and she took me back to the Carrs!

It will cost me!


Running is no longer my forte but I got from Taylor Way to Seamer Mead in rather a short length of time (I have still got it – a bit) and I was soon heading toward John’s location.

It wasn’t until I had leaped a few ditches and snaked my way over some electric fences that I met up with John and seconds later added Stone Curlew to my Scarborough list, my 5^th area tick this year! And about time to, this bird had given me (and many others) the run around!

John was kind enough to give me a lift home and with my dinner on the table as I arrived I felt pretty good!

Stone Curlew, taken at 20.30 bad light etc

Stone Curlew, same excuse as above!

I didn't get up early at all on the 10^th, with work that night and a planned full day in the field on the 11^th I opted for a late morning start.
Long Nab was my destination, a check of the area would be about all I would have time for but with the odd bird still arriving on the coast it was worth a look.
Little did I know I was about to bag my second Scarborough tick inside 15 hours, as well as my first find tick of the year.
Literally 90 seconds after getting out the car some movement caught my eye, it was slightly obscured so I moved a little before getting a clear(ish) view, it was a bloody ORTOLAN!
It had clearly just had a bath in the small beck running through Crook Ness and was now sat up having a preen and a shake.
With serious Scarborough Listers Nick and Steve still in need of Ortolan (Chris nailed an autumn bird a few years back) I got the news out quickly, not too surprising that this is still needed, it’s only the fourth area record!
The bird Chris had in August 2014 followed birds in May 1973 and October 1977, a real rarity here.
It stuck around for about 15 minutes before flying off north. It didn't gain any height so I was hopeful it would have come down somewhere in the Clifftop House area.
Steve and Tony were soon on site, unfortunately Nick was at work.
We began our search which in the end just turned into a full check of the entire Long Nab area and with nothing to show for our efforts, not even another migrant of any kind, we agreed that maybe it did continue north past Clifftop House.
Another check of Crook Ness revealed nothing of interest and neither did the walk home, passerine wise at least. Two Grey Plover were on the small flood to the north of Cromer Point Pond, one of which was looking smart. Another Grey Plover on Scalby Lodge Pond was looking just as good.
Thoughts were soon turned towards work unfortunately which meant I had to head home. At least tomorrow was my day off and with a planned early start at Long Nab who knows what we would find!

Ortolan, my first view of the bird

It did eventually show a little better

And another for good measure

Easterly promise on a busy weekend!

With the forecast tracking a period of east – northeast winds over the weekend of the 7^th and 8^th May, albeit rather light winds, I was still pretty eager for the potential migrants it may bring.

It did unfortunately fall on a weekend that was going to be a busy one and one that would no doubt see the ale flowing in large quantities, my sisters 21^st!

Knowing that I would never be forgiven if I wasn’t to turn up, nor would I live down not turning up at the Bowling Alley where I had promised to beat the family, I was in a tricky situation.
So, after a late finish at work on the Friday, and a planned meeting time of midday on the Saturday I was up early and headed north along the cliffs towards Long Nab where I was to be picked up around 11.00 ish. I at least intended to make the most of the short time I had available and spend it in the field.
It was rather an uneventful walk with very little if an vis-mig in evidence, a Ringed Plover calling whilst heading north was about the lot. Jackson’s Bay held a Common Sandpiper and 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, one of which was in rather fine breeding attire.

Scalby Lodge Pond was quiet, a Sedge Warbler in Trough Gully was the only migrant I noted until I arrived at Crook Ness where a Spotted Flycatcher was watched feeding in the hedgerow running west from the car park.
I called it a day soon after that and headed home.

Sea fret rolling in over Scarborough...

...and rolling in at Long Nab

Spotted Flycatcher at Crook Ness

With celebrations continuing long into the night I wasn't planning on an early rise on the 8th. The re-appearance of the Stone Curlew on Seamer Mead though meant I received a phone call from Steve in the wee hours! Cheers!

A little more snoozing and I eventually headed out for the Curlew at about 10.00, unfortunately though it hadn't been seen since 08.55 when it flew west to Star Carr!

On arrival I could make out a few people through the heat haze who were clearly looking at something. About 40 minutes later I arrived to discover they weren't watching the hoped for Curlew but the Wood Sandpiper they were watching was a welcome addition to the Scarborough year list.
A few hours later after walking almost all the fields on the Carr I gave up, it looked like it may have actually gone.
It was still a pleasant enough walk with at least 7 Wheatear, a Whimbrel, a Green Sandpiper loads of singing Sedge Warbler and plenty of Lapwing chicks.

Seamer Mead looking east

Seamer Mead looking west

With news that Steve and Tony had just had 10 Black Tern through Wykeham it was decided that there would be worth a visit. Though the bad luck continued as a Black-tailed Godwit left just on our arrival! And despite nearly 2 hours waiting there no more Terns passed through, I had to be happy enough with 2 Dunlin and a Whimbrel!

I had to call it a day there as I had more family commitments in the afternoon.

More early May action

It wasn’t such an early start on the fifth, leaving Scarborough at 07.00 we were on site and netting for 07.15. A couple of Wheatear greeted us on arrival there.

With little in the way of cloud cover from the word go and all nets looking rather obvious it was looking like our efforts to catch a few birds would have been for nothing.
Luckily they weren’t and encouragingly a net ride we had never operated before, that was almost completely visible, was the most productive with 4 Whitethroat and a Willow Warbler all being new plus a Chiffchaff, one I rang as a 3JP back in August 2013, so if it hadn’t hatched out in the plantation itself it hadn’t come far at all, perhaps the middle plantation or maybe Cloughton Wyke.
Today she was bulging and weighed in about a gram heavier than a Chiffy caught on the previous round, maybe later in the year we will catch her offspring – fingers crossed she is successful.
The rest of the catch was standard fare, a male Blackcap, a few Goldfinch and a Linnet as well as a Blackbird.
Vis-mig in between rounds proved slower than yesterday but there was still a trickle. Hirundines reached totals of 66 Swallow, 28 House Martin and 35 Sand Martin south, also moving south were 10 Swift, 10 Flava, 69 Linnet, 23 Goldfinch and a Siskin while a Tree Pipit and a Whimbrel flew north.
Highlights were 2 Marsh Harrier, firstly a male south at 09.20 and a female in off and south at 11.55 while we were checking Cromer Point pond for any waders.
The pond itself was quiet but 2 Dunlin were on the small flood just to the north.
At a little after midday it was time to call it a day, I had work to think about but with the winds due to switch to the southeast overnight we were hopeful of a good day on the sixth.

Linnet

The above mentioned Chiffchaff

The sixth began just like the fifth, except for a marginally earlier start.
By 06.45 the nets were open and the first few south bound Hirundines were logged.
Walking round the plantation it seemed as though there were very few, if any new migrants had arrived and after our second net round our suspicions were realised with only 2 birds caught!
Things were slow going to say the least! Still, with a light southeast blowing and cloud cover approaching we were as ever optimistic, at least there was a trickle of vis-mig to occupy our minds and keep us alert.
A couple more net rounds proved just as successful as the first two and thoughts soon turned to packing up and birding elsewhere.
We persisted a little longer and with the vis-mig still providing us with hope we had another short watch from the raised ground along the cliffs just to the south of the ringing plantation.
With Swallows only just breaking the 100 mark it wasn’t exactly going to be a memorable day but at least it was something.
How things can change!
A brief look to the north and I caught the arse end of a Harrier dropping behind the cliffs and out of sight.
It wasn’t long before it was up again and I had directed Chris on to the bird, it was a ringtail Harrier.
With Chris now watching through the Scope and ,e firing off a few shots it became clear that only four fingers were showing, we were watching a Monty’s/Pallid!
Very quickly thoughts turned to Pallid, it had a Boa, and from what Chris could make out it had a pale trailing edge to the hand!
Unfortunately it was on a mission, shooting north, often facing directly away and it soon past Cloughton and gained height where it disappeared over Roger Trod and continued its journey north.
The quick nature of the flyby meant I wasn’t able to choose the desired setting on the camera and with the bird almost always being against a grey sky/sea background it meant the quality of the shots weren’t great, would they be enough to clinch?
After gathering our thoughts we released news of a probable 2CY Pallid north in the hope someone was out and about somewhere to the north of us.
It was only then we heard the news of a possible Pallid that had passed through Wykeham South Lake about 25 minutes previous to our sighting at 09.10, it was seen by one of the photographers in our area and he had apparently got pictures.
Hopefully between my shots and his we would have enough.
To cut a long story short after getting my images on the computer back at home and eventually getting Terry’s shots from Wykeham we confirmed it PALLID HARRIER!
Relief, finally me and Chris could both relax and celebrate ours and Terry’s find.
A first for Scarborough and my 2^nd self-found Pallid after the Scarborough birders on tour came up trumps on Shetland in 2014.
I am however still to find a Monty’s!!
A little research from Chris later on that day revealed a straight line distance from Wykeham South Lake to Long Nab of 7.25 miles meaning the bird travelled at roughly 17 miles per
hour!
Its unprecedented that a bird was tracked through Scarborough, particularly on a weekday and even more so that we had no knowledge of the Wykeham sighting so we weren’t scanning and actively looking for it, Scarborough still remains very under-watched.

PALLID HARRIER

PALLID HARRIER

With promising conditions looking set to continue over the weekend and into next week here’s hoping for a few more goodies.

Check out Scarborough Birders sightings here page for some stunning Harrier shots taken at Wykeham.

Early May

With the bleak weather that dominated most of the last week of April finally dissipating it meant the first day of the fifth month was a little more pleasant, at least it was in the sun before the wind picked up, it was still pretty fresh!
I was keen to head to Long Nab, avoiding Scarborough itself as it was going to be crawling with visitors due to the Tour de Yorkshire arriving in town at some point during the afternoon, I was just happy to be out and about on a rare bank holiday Sunday off work.
After meeting Nick and Steve at 06.15 we left town behind and headed for Long Nab.
In the short time I spent on my Flat roof whilst supping a tea I noted a few bits moving in the form of a couple of Swallow and Sand Martin, 3 Flava’s and 11 Linnet plus an added bonus Flat tick when a Tree Pipit passed north.
Long Nab itself wasn’t as busy as I was expecting but there was still enough happening to keep the interest going.
Passage highlights included a drake Red-breasted Merganser, a Common Buzzard and 8 House Martin and 147 Linnet south.
A Wheatear greeted us on arrival at the Hut with other migrants clearly evident arriving in off the sea with single Willow Warbler, 2 male Blackcap and another Wheatear noted. A further 3 Willow Warbler were at Cliff Top House, 5 Whitethroat had arrived in the area and a single Snipe was booted from the scrape.

Willow Warbler fresh in off the sea at Long Nab

By the third It was pleasant enough to be out, the wind was still fresh but you could feel it was slowly changing for the better.
I was again at Long Nab, beginning my watch there at 07.45. Passage wise it was fairly slow, a flurry of Raptor movement saw a Kestrel north and a Sparrowhawk south within minutes of each other at just gone 08.00 and to finish it off a cream-crown Marsh Harrier north at 08.28.
The occasional flurry of Hirundines resulted in 38 Swallow south 1 north, 51 Sand Martin south 8 north and 9 House Martin south logged in the 4 hours of watching, the only other species moving in any real number were 60 Linnet south.
A few passerines were arriving in off, singles of Chiffchaff, Lesser Whitethroat and Greenland Wheatear arrived by the Hut while another smart male Greenland Wheatear pitched in at Hundale Point.
The ringing plantation itself was rather quiet although a Willow Warbler in there was surely new in while at least 7 singing Whitethroat graced the Long Nab area.
Eventually I had to start my walk home south along the cliffs in time for work but at least the walk wasn’t without a few migrants. A minimum of 8 singing Whitethroat were spread between Crook Ness and Scalby Nab, a Willow Warbler was actively feeding in scrub at Cromer Point and a Blackcap and a Sedge Warbler were in Style Gully.
The Lesser Whitethroat in Scalby Beck was still trilling away while the Dipper was also on show.

Sparrowhawk south at Long Nab

Wheatear at Long Nab

There seems to be good numbers of Yellow Wagtail around at the moment including this singing male at Crook Ness

An even earlier start on the fourth saw me it Long Nab for 07.05. Within the first hour and a half I had logged more of each species of Hirundine than I did in the whole of my time out yesterday, by my finish time of 14.00 I had logged 158 Swallow, 203 Sand Martin and 62 House Martin south, the Sand Martin count is rather high for the site, and is my personal highest by some margin although it’s a far cry from the record of 700 south on 23rd April 2000.
Other bits n bobs on the move south included 124 Linnet, 34 Goldfinch, 2 Swift and another good Long Nab count of 30 Flava.
The sea seemed rather quiet, 2 Red-throated Diver passed south, as did 23 Sandwich Tern although I didn’t devote too much time to sea-watching. A surprise whilst scanning out to sea though was a Short-eared Owl battling in before ditching in the bracken along the cliffs after attracting lots of unwanted Corvid attention.
Very few migrants were noted on my occasional walks and ventures along the hedges and into the plantation, a single Willow Warbler and 2 male Wheatear.

Short-eared Owl making landfall just north of the Hut

With plans for a ringing session early tomorrow (5^th) I hope a few more migrants appear. Although I suspect the vis-migging will be better, we will but see.