May 8th

The winds have been south-easterly for the last two days. It’s a shame the visibility today was so poor. These winds bring the seabirds in close and at this time of year there are usually skuas on their way north. None this morning through the murk of the haar but I did see the first manx shearwater of the year passing Crail. And later, the first swift of the year over Crail School. This isn’t particularly late for us, swifts usually arrive in the first week of May. But swifts are incredible migrants covering hundreds of kilometres in a day so probably haven’t even noticed it has been a late spring, leap frogging the other stalled species in England.

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