Upon leaving the Lodge to start census today, I was greeted with a thick fog, reducing visibility to a mere few metres. As a result, most of the following birding was rather difficult indeed. A small flock of Blackcaps in Lower Millcombe was milling around the area but unfortunately, with the thick fog hanging in the air, the nets couldn't be opened. Before I reached Old Light, all my optics were saturated, as were my waterproof – the very light rain was the perfect type to get you soaked without realising! At the end, I managed just over 20 species, well below the average count for census, although a Pied Flycatcher at Quarry Pond, although not on census, was a nice highlight.
The rest of the day was spent diving through all the Wryneck rarity descriptions, meaning a bit of creativity needed to write a few different ways to describe a Wryneck. This is not a complaint though, the birding gods are welcome to bring plenty more Wrynecks this way! Of course, once our descriptions are up to date, we'll have to try and find more. Thomas and Eleanor certainly made a start when, in the fog last night, they heard a Stone-curlew flying overhead. The distinctive, mournful, flight-call of this nocturnal and unique wader to Britain is a much more regular occurrence in the south-east, where migrating individuals from the East Anglian breeding population clearly pass over. This far out west, Stone-curlews are a rare occurrence, with just six Lundy records. The nearest breeeding population is presumably in Wiltshire, so perhaps this is where the visting bird hailed from. Although I did make an attempt to find grounded waders in the thick fog later in the afternoon, I was unsuccessful. However, I did get to dry myself out with a busy Sunday KP shift in the evening.