Quite a big venture, nothing gained. 165 species in total

With a stiff SE breeze and rain in the offing, things were looking good for a seawatch, and the three possible target species (Arctic Tern, Arctic Skua, Little Gull) had all been seen in the past 36 hours - so Stokes Bay it was! I set off at about 1600, riding into the headwind all the way to Gosport in about an hour and a half. On arrival, things looked quite bright, with several Barwits, Curlews and Sandwich Terns migrating past, and a few hirundines in off the sea - but then I sat and had nearly two hours of virtually nothing! Not even a Common Tern....

I felt thoroughly deflated, and my tyre decided to show sympathy by having a puncture along Browndown seafront.....grrrrr. Titchfield was equally deathly from the road - just two Cuckoos were of note, and certainly no sound of a singing Gropper, albeit in increasingly windy conditions.

Riding home via Flagpond Copse, I didn't even hear a Nightingale - so my return home at 2130 was after a 75km fitness ride with virtually nothing birdwise to show for it! Now up to 11.6km per bird....