Storm Katie blows in..

Easter Monday 28th March saw the arrival of the tail of Hurricane Katie sweeping up the English Channel. Torrential overnight rain petered out by 7am and 60-70mph winds whipped up the sea and the waves. Disappointingly there was little sea-bird movement save for good numbers of Fulmars and a few Kittiwake. At 9.30am however, a small party of 7 Sandwich Terns moved north, and were the first for this spring.

Later in the afternoon the wind dropped and we did a decent 5 mile walk around the patch. This turned up yet another stunning Firecrest, the third Black Redstart of the spring and two Redwings.