Tuesday 16 May – Sand Point – Leader: Nick Hawkridge

Two Whitethroats sang as we climbed the steps, a nearby Blackcap chimed in, as did a distant Chiffchaff. The top was not cold, the wind merely adding a refreshing zephyr to a warm day. Some Shelduck peppered the mud flats, a team of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gull washed at the point, a couple of Swallow rowed past, with another Whitethroat flitting in the brush. As we walked the north facing path below Swallow Cliff, we were entertained by a pair of Stonechats, some Linnets and a Dunnock singing his tinkling song from a bramble stem. Post coffee, we ambled up the gentle slope, stopping to count the Linnets, Skylarks and an unseen Lesser Whitethroat. At Middle Hope beach the pair of Peregrines we had seen wheeling over the car park, made an attack, with the female making off with Woodpigeon. A few people bade farewell at the break out point, as we moseyed on to see a dozen Jackdaws, hear another Whitethroat and our first Greenfinch. At lunch we saw a couple of dozen Oystercatchers at the mouth of the River Banwell and a nesting pair of Shelducks. Alas as we climbed up past the MOD site, the hoped for Spotted Flycatcher failed to show, but pairs of courting Greenfinches did. The slow wander back to the cars with a final bird total of 32 seen or heard by most of the squad of 17 walkers. (Thanks to Nick for leading) Nick Hawkridge