May 2026

Nocmig summary 1-8 May: whimbrel: 1st 18.32h; 2nd 22.00h; 5th 03.44h, 18.52h; 6th 18.40h; 7th 23.40h; 8th 01.38h; common sandpiper: 2nd 22.30h; 6th 22.38h; dunlin: 2nd 22.31h, 23.10h; 7th 23.58h; turnstone: 2nd 21.58h; oystercatcher: 4th 22.38h; 5th 01.09h, 22.56h; ringed plover: 8th 02.44h.

15th: whitethroat still singing on The Island. Seen on most days prior to this too.

9th: 3 swift over town. Perranuthnoe: ca. 40 whimbrel, 2 dunlin, sand martins and the short-fringed mining bee Andrena dorsata.

8th. Liam scoped a pheasant on Clodgy Point from the Island. Great northern diver offshore too.

7th: Godrevy: 5 sanderling, 8 whimbrel, sand martins and a tawny mining bee Andrena fulva. My 100-500mm lens is back from Canon and repaired to a high standard.

6th: 2 Egyptian geese Chew Valley lake; two also at Ham Wall, where I also saw ca 10 hobbies and heard several bitterns. Lots of garden warblers singing too.

Reed warbler singing.

There were also a brown hare, 2 grass snake, hairy dragonflies and four-spotted chasers present. The hobbies only started being obvious once it was warm enough from the dragonflies to fly.

At Tealham Moor I saw about 5 cattle egret, a male Channel wagtail (retuning bird?) and a female flavissima-type yellow wagtail.

5th: Forest of Dean. Two tree pipit on Crabtree Hill, Redstart (male), pied flycatcher (male) and treecreeper at Nagshead.

3rd. Pilning wetlands: 2 lesser whitethroat and 2 little ringed plover.

1st. News came out of an adult male LESSER KESTREL at Croft Pascoe just before I was about to travel to Bristol. I managed to see it on my drive there.