11th October

Whilst there are no doubt plenty of folk around the country who'd be more than happy for the weather to continue in the same vein for the next month it's beginning to look like a change wouldn't go amiss at Portland: the supply of common migrants seems to be dwindling by the day and the quality and quantity of rares is hardly a feature. Today did come up with a Siberian Lesser Whitethroat trapped and ringed at the Obs, as well as a brief Richard's Pipit that pitched into one of the East Cliff fields at the Bill before promptly vanishing, but the 3 Yellow-browed Warblers in the Craft Centre/Avalanche Hump area hardly qualify for rarity status these days. Chiffchaffs were still well spread if numerically far less of a feature than in recent days and many of the other expected routine October migrants got mentions on the day sheet but none were at all numerous; among the less regulars, Ring Ouzels got up to maybe half a dozen at the Bill where singles of Merlin and Firecrest were also logged.

Immigrant moth numbers dwindled still further: 3 Delicates were the only things worth a mention amongst the total of just 10 individuals of 4 species trapped overnight at the Obs.


Today's Siberian Lesser Whitethroat was an altogether more convincing candidate than our bird a couple of days ago, with the general appearance, wing formula and tail pattern all looking to be OK for blythi: