Yesterday, 1st April (No connection) I was in Far ings Ness Hide from 10 am till about 2 pm. About 11 am I saw (photographed) a lone swallow skim across the lake but when it had had a drink it shot back up into the air to join other 'hirundines' high up. Between 11 am and 2 pm there was a steady passage of around 25-35 birds per flock passing over so in the end must have totalled easily in the hundreds. There were two other guys in the hide but although we commented on the first swallow we never chatted about the small flocks and so I am not sure they saw them or not, I will ask when I see them again. It was nice to see them, and the swallows were my earliest ever. I certainly watched, through the bins, swallows, house martins and sand martins. One bird watcher popped his head in the hide, stood for a few minutes, looked through the slits but of course could not see anything other than the water. At 2 pm I nipped to Chowder to see the wheatear and specially looked out to see if the hirundines were passing over, it's only about half a mile North of Ness Hide but could not see one ! Were they passing over very high, popping down just for a drink and then zooming back skywards? I am putting this on LBC because no one else seems to have seen them, surely someone else must have ??
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