Saturday 17th December.

 As extremely cold weather continued to grip the continent, an exceptionally large number of Lapwings came in off the sea on a broad front from the S/SE in response to the poor conditions, with the majority of them continuing north along the coastline and only a few moving north inland. It is estimated that 5,000+ arrived during the day. 3,083 Lapwing arrived in off the sea between the Harbour and South Bay and mostly heading NW. Two Common Snipe, five Dunlin and a Bar-tailed Godwit were also noted. A Snow Bunting was at East Pier early morning and a Great Northern Diver and a Goosander were in South Bay. A Merlin flew over town at 1130hrs and 41 Purple Sandpipers roosted on East Pier. A further 2,855 Lapwing arrived from the SE and E at Long Nab with a further 30 moving south there. Also passing north at Long Nab were 20 Dunlin and two Mediterranean Gulls. A Jack Snipe was in the cover crop and three Barnacle Geese were in the Obs field. In fields to the immediate south of Wykeham Lakes Complex, a Russian White-fronted Goose flew in to join 750 Greylag Geese, four Pink-footed Geese and seven Mute Swans. A Great White Egret was also present. 14 Wigeon, nine Teal, 20 Siskin, one Jay and two Bullfinch were at Wykeham East Lake. A Red Kite was over Hackness Hall and 30-40  Fieldfare were at Wrench Green this morning. 50 Fieldfare, two Redwing and a Common Snipe were in the old orchard at Westfield Farm, Cloughton. A further 170 Lapwings flew north at Gristhorpe Bay this afternoon with 402 Lapwings in the fields there. Also present were 22 Oystercatcher, six Redshank, two Golden Plover, one Grey Plover and one Common Snipe. 47 Teal were in Gristhorpe Bay and a further 12 flew north.

Snow Bunting by Mark Hepples.