Summer is icumen in

Summer is icumen in. How do we know? Well, there have been lots of unusual migrant birds sighted these past few days and warm, easterly airflows seem to be the cause. Large numbers (perhaps 400 or so) of barn swallows have been recorded, chiffchaffs and willow warblers have popped up in quite a few places, and, wonder of wonders, a common crane has been sighted near Eyrabakki in the south of Iceland, whilst a black-crowned night heron delighted observers at Neskaupstaðir in eastern Iceland.

The regular migrants have just about all arrived, whimbrels, black-tailed godwits and redshanks are all rather noisy at the moment, whilst the first of the red-necked phalaropes turned up a few days ago.

We'll be out and about at the weekend and are hopeful that several of these ornithological curiosities will still be present ...