Tonight’s swifts in Freehold. Three different sorts of result. From 6am to 9am and 5pm to 8.45pm there were always between 3 and 7 low level roofline birds. This implies adults still with an extant nest to me. As I type 3 birds are still whizzing around at roof level as the sun sets (20.50pm). We also had swifts at Torrisholme today passing South rapidly in a straight line. The evening screaming party was very very high, perhaps 2,000 feet and circled between 8.02pm and 8.10pm estimated at 20-25 birds beyond the range of a camera. They were however very audible. Ì have been proved wrong in the past but my guess is the main population has moved South and the breeding success has been poorer than recent years. Still. With the forecast its worth looking out from 7.50pm to 8.10pm with bins to see if you can see some black dots.
Torrisholme CC was great today. A huge number of gulls because of ant emergence. At some points in the afternoon there were hundreds if not thousands of gulls above the ground and dozens on the grass chasing ants. They are very flighty if I walk around but accept the tractor so I was able to get close and clock bh gull med gull (4) herring gull lbb gull(pale) lbb gull(v dark) yellow legged g (2) … exceptionally pale grey with bright yellow legs, and 1 common gull. The latter I am convinced is a winter resident of the last 4-5 years. It would be brilliant to net and ring it to see if my theory is correct.
