We had a lovely day on the Castlemartin peninsula today where it was nice to meet the new Seasonal Ranger David over there. Migrants passing along the coast included good flocks of whimbrel, starting with 15 in late morning. Later in the late afternoon, at least 90 were actively feeding in the dune grassland. With these, plus others passing along the coast towards the Angle peninsula/Milford Haven area at the time, there must have been 100-120+ whimbrels at one point. A few other waders in the area included 2 dunlin, 2 sanderlings, a ringed plover and a dozen or so oystercatchers.
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| Part of a large flock of passage whimbrels, plus a smart male linnet, coming in to rest and feed |
Lots
of sand martins in the area, but their colony has been badly impacted by
coastal erosion during the wet, stormy period. A few house martins were back at
a cliff-colony site. We noted our first swift of the spring flying over towards Freshwater West. A nice bird to end the visit on, but how well will their declining breeding
population fare this year?