Serin!

Serin by West Beach

With a brisk northerly wind blowing this morning I did not have high hopes of a good sea watch, I joined AJG in the hide where a few Gannets and Kittiwakes flew West, a Hobby and 2 Shelduck came in and c100 Common Terns were over The Patch. Our sea watch was mercifully cut short by a call from David Campbell who had found a Serin loosely associating with a couple of Linnets by West Beach. As we approached West Beach the Serin flew over our heads, disappearing behind the Britannia PH. We only got as far as the old lighthouse when the Serin flew back over us and back to West Beach where it showed quite well briefly before being flushed by a car.
We made our way to Harry's bench, where another call from David Campbell alerted us to 2 Red Kites over the trapping area, despite much scanning we failed to see the Kites probable due to ineptness on our part. Yet another alert from David got us onto a newly arrived Ring-tail Hen Harrier. As Red Kites were being widely reported I went home and set up my scope over looking the fields and marsh. Red Kites were now being reported behind, to the side and in front of me, despite spending 2hrs scanning not a Kite was seen by me, though I did see 4+ Hobby's, Marsh Harriers, Common Buzzards, lots of Swifts and a Yellow Wagtail.
A stroll around the hay fields this afternoon in the increasingly strong northerly wind was unpleasant and basically a waste of time as apart from a couple of Hobby's and Swifts battling the wind everything else was keeping in shelter.