Easterlies ... still !

With the continuing easterly airflow over the past two weeks, common and scarce migrants came flooding in.  There was never a dull moment during a walk around Holy Island - from the Straight Lonnen a Great Grey Shrike hovered over a wood in uncharacteristic style before perching in the top of a hawthorn 1km away -

Further along the Straight Lonnen a Red-breasted Flycatcher tantalised as it flitted from one side of a row of The Willows to the other -

And a Yellow-browed Warbler gave occasional glimpses in the Vicar's Garden -

At the wonderful flash at Low Newton a Baird's Sandpiper still lingered -

..... sometimes associating with about ten Dunlins and sometimes showing its varied habitat preference by wandering off into the grass.

In the light of the easterly wind direction, was this individual perhaps from NE Siberia rather than being a transatlantic vagrant ?

Among the many hundreds of gulls along the west Cumbrian coast this adult nominate race Herring Gull ( L.a.argentatus,  a.k.a. Scandinavian Herring Gull ) put in a brief appearance at Maryport -

With its bold head and neck streaking, extensive mirrors on p9 and p10 and noticeably darker grey mantle, it was a striking bird.