After yesterday's extended show the Ross's Gull made just one early morning visit to Ferrybridge today, with its non-appearance later in the day elsewhere in the Weymouth area leading to thoughts that it might finally have moved on. It was certainly a decent enough day to have headed off, with 23 Red-throated Divers, 16 Common Scoter and trickle of gulls taking advantage off the Bill. Passerine-wise, there had been a fair bit of overnight passage over the Obs where 302 Redwings, 42 Blackbirds and 2 Song Thrushes - along with a flock of Wigeon, 2 Curlews and singles of Golden Plover and Dunlin - had been the rewards from the first nocturnal recording session of the season (thanks to Joe Stockwell) but, despite crystal clear skies, diurnal passage failed to get going at all. On the ground a party of 9 Long-tailed Tits showed up at the Obs, but 2 Redwings and a Mistle Thrush at the Bill and a Chiffchaff at Southwell were the only other worthwhile migrants; 2 Purple Sandpipers and a Short-eared Owl were also still about at the Bill.
Hopefully we're not being unduly pessimistic in pondering on today having been a really nice day for the Ross's Gull to have headed off - after all, it'd be great to think it might hang around and gradually attain summer plumage © Pete Saunders:
It didn't take long for today's Long-tailed Tits to find the fat balls on offer at the Obs; surprisingly, bearing in mind how many were ringed during last autumn's record-breaking glut of them at the Bill - and how many ringed birds have been amongst the flocks encountered throughout the island this winter - all of today's birds were 'new' unringed individuals © Martin Cade:
