My bad luck with pied flycatchers continued today. A second bird was seen at Kilminning at lunchtime but it wasn’t there later in the afternoon. Like yesterday’s bird it was back on its way after only a short stop. The weather has been perfect for migration over the last couple of days. Many migrants, when the conditions are good and they are not crossing a barrier like the sea or a desert, fly overnight and might make only a few hours stop the next day before starting off again. I’ve tracked whinchats that apparently make a continuous two week flight from West Africa to eastern Europe. They must stop to feed, but never for very long. Many do stop on the way for much longer – with clear stop-over sites, particularly after and before barriers, or coincident with headwinds or bad weather. Nothing like the present conditions. That said, the garden warbler was still at lower Kilminning feeding on the elderberries just as two days ago, making a more protracted stay. There’s always an exception. Other migrants were coming in today: skylarks in small flocks arriving from the sea and there were two chiff-chaffs at Kilminning that probably weren’t there yesterday. The light easterlies are continuing so more interesting migrants should appear over the weekend, but again no rain is forecast so they won’t be that common or stay that long.
Wild Crail 
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