May 4th
This morning we met at Shuart and walked around the area seeing 4 Chiffchaffs, 5 Blackcaps, 3 Whitethroats, 4 Ring-necked Parakeets, 1 Common Buzzard, 2 Red-legged Partridges, 4 Swifts, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Reed Warblers and 1 Jay.
Next we drove over to one of our Reculver ringing sites where I received a call from Derek Smith who was still at Shuart to say that an Osprey (155th) had flown west up high and out at sea. I drove to Reculver car park and was just in time to see it flying in towards the cliffs at Bishopstone where it was seen by Mark Chidwick to have a satellite tracker and a blue ring.

Osprey - Barry Hunt

Other birds seen in the Reculver area included 3 Whitethroats, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 2 Swifts, 1 Grey Heron, 3 Blackcaps, 6 Reed Warblers, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Sparrowhawk, 17 Mute Swans, 2 Little Grebes, 8 Tufted Ducks, 6 Coot, 25 Sand Martins, 1 Mallard and a singing Nightingale.
Derek Smith also found our first Hairy Dragonfly of the year at Shuart.