460
Suffolk
Natural
History,
Vol.
15, Part
5
A feature of the early M a y migration was the comparatively high number of wood warblers and pied fiycatchers; one of the latter obligingly spent an evening in the Editor's garden, where it looked quite exotic. D ü r i n g the latter part of M a y and early June parties of black terns were reported f r o m a number of inland and coastal localities and there was a big and rather late passage of turtle doves— including sixty in one morning—at Minsmere during the last week in May. A roller at Lowestoft on June 1 was one of five recorded in Britain about that time. Four ospreys occurred during M a y and early June and there were two passage hobbys at Walberswick and Minsmere during the first week of June. A u t u m n passage was generally rather quiet, w i t h day and night migrants well below usual numbers. T h i s applied particularly to the waders and was the result of lack of the usual easterly winds, during most of the month. O n the coast wheatears, redstarts, and pied fiycatchers were scarce throughout m u c h of August but there was a marked return passage of yellow wagtails through inland Suffolk at the end of the month. Some wrynecks, an icterine warbler, and a melodious warbler occurred among d r i f t migrants on August 21, w i t h wader numbers building up slightly. A crowned crane at Minsmere and Southwold on August 20 caused a stir. I t subsequently turned up near Lowestoft. Heavy rain w i t h north-east winds on September 12 produced a small " f a l l " of whitethroats, phylloscopi, and spotted fiycatchers and a broad-billed sandpiper turned up at Minsmere next day. W i t h the w i n d again easterly, goldcrests were prominent about September 20 and the only bluethroat of the year occurred on September 22. Early barnacle geese at Walberswick and Minsmere during the first two days of October were the forerunners of the winter immigrants and the first twites and a great grey shrike appeared a few days later. Another wave of goldcrests were reported at Herringfleet on October 10, w i t h two merlins and a sprinkling of ring ouzels elsewhere on the coast. D u r i n g the period October 13 to 15 a huge fogbank extended down the N o r t h Sea in the region of 4°E. Several Lowestoft trawlers were fishing in the clear conditions to the east of the fog and experienced skippers informed H . E. Jenner that d u r i n g that time "vast numbers of birds, more than they had ever seen before, came aboard the boats to rest after they had flown about the edge of the fogbank t i l i exhausted".