9th October

Lots about again today on a lovely bright, sunny day that lent itself to widespread coverage. Although a brief end of the afternoon Subalpine Warbler south of Inmosthay Quarry stole the show rarity-wise, the day's feature birds were Ring Ouzels and Yellow-browed Warblers that returned all-island minimum totals of 26 and 15 respectively; a candidate Siberian Lesser Whitethroat at the Obs and 2 Bearded Tits roaming about at the Bill were nice island oddities, whilst the likes of a passing Woodlark at Blacknor, 2 Mistle Thrushes around the centre of the island, 5 Short-eared Owls at the Bill and a thin scatter of Firecrests all added interest to the mix. Chiffchaffs dominated on the ground, with maybe 100 through at the Bill and plenty more elsewhere, whilst late-ish migrants included 2 Reed Warblers and singles of Tree Pipit, Redstart, Willow Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher at the Bill/Southwell.

Immigrant moth numbers remained steady, with 131 Rush Veneer, 33 Rusty-dot Pearl, 8 Silver Y, 7 Diamond-back Moth, 4 Delicate, 2 Pearly Underwing and a Red Admiral butterfly trapped overnight at the Obs; elsewhere, a Barred Sallow was a good island oddity at the Grove.

Rather belatedly, Yellow-browed Warblers got into double figures of the first time this autumn; this one was trapped and ringed at Culverwell © Joe Stockwell...


...although in the island rarity stakes - and for looks - the two Bearded Tits were arguably of higher value © Tony Hovell (male) and Martin Cade (female)



To be perfectly honest, we haven't got a clue how to pigeon hole the Lesser Whitethroat: given the date and weather conditions - and to some extent the bird's plumage - we'd guess at it being a Siberian LWT but we've seen better tail patterns than this before: