Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire

Today I was at Gibraltar Point near Skegness in Lincolnshire. It was surprisingly quiet I thought, with no sign of any passage migrants. Having seen wheatears in St Helens already I would have thought there would have been a few on the east coast, but there were none at Donna Nook yesterday, and none at Gibraltar Point today. Likewise there were no white wagtails to be seen. Still, it was great to be here, even if the stars were the dark-bellied brent geese and avocets.

Brents.

I counted 38 avocets today.

Tennyson Sands.

I found this smooth newt on one of the footpaths, on its side with its legs in the air. I thought it was dead at first, but I put it in some shallow water on the edge of a pond and after about 5 minutes it seemed to recover and swam off.

Millennium Ridge. This was my first visit to Gibraltar Point since the huge tidal surge of December 2013, and there were signs of it everywhere, not least at the visitor centre which has still not reopened. Millennium Ridge seemed altered as well, it didn't seem as high as I remembered it.