9th October

We do keep mentioning that the Bill very rarely scores on the sea during a fierce gale, but that doesn't stop folk arriving in numbers to try their luck - by most reckonings we'd venture that we were proved right again today. Chesil Cove did strike with a minor highlight in the form of a lingering Storm Petrel but pretty well all-day coverage at the Bill came up with just 5 Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Arctic Skuas and singles of Great Skua and Pomarine Skua. After a few negative reports in recent days the Hooded Crow was found again at the Grove but the only other reports from an almost unbirdable land were of ones and twos of a few of the most routine migrants.