Holy Island on 14th April 2024

On the day we were joined by some visitors from Hampshire.

We started out at Budle Bay where we had an array of wildfowl on view and some Pink-footed Goose were still hanging on. From here we headed off to look over the estuary between the mainland on Holy Island, from here we had many highlights but without a doubt two flyover Raven were notable! On the estuary itself there were still brilliant numbers of waders, most of which were probably northbound birds with good numbers of Redshank and Curlews noted.

On Holy Island itself we had a lovely afternoon walk around, we had a all to brief flyover Whimbrel and we had a real treat when we uncovered a male Ring Ouzel, the species does not breed on the island and will likely have been a British migrant heading towards its upland breeding grounds. As well as the Ouzel we had some super views of both sexes of Northern Wheatear, Holy Island is a fantastic place to catch this migrant birds enroute to its breeding grounds. They often afford brilliant views and this trip was no exception. Hints of winter hanging on came from Fieldfare and Goldeneye.

We ended the day on a very respectable 52 species.

"Just to say thank you once again for a great day birdwatching yesterday. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and were especially delighted to have seen those wheatear and the ring ouzel."

(A costal migrant Northern Wheatear - © Andrew Kinghorn, Birdwatch North East).