Not the earliest ever by some margin but certainly well ahead of average, this morning's Pale-bellied Brent Geese are part of what sounds to be a notably large early arrival around the southwest of England © Pete Saunders:
13th September
With dawn providing plenty of the right ingredients - the fresh breeze had swung into the northeast, some drizzly showers were just fizzling out and it was still completely overcast - there was no shortage of expectation for today. In the event there was plenty of visible passage and at least a reasonable scatter of grounded migrants but scarcity interest was limited to the lingering Wryneck and Lapland Bunting at the Bill, a second Wryneck that showed up at Broadcroft and a fly-by Ortolan Bunting at Weston. Swallows and Meadow Pipits dominated the overhead passage with many hundreds of each through at the Bill, whilst the likes of 7 Whimbrel, a Merlin and an extremely early inbound Wood Pigeon were amongst the additional variety there. On the ground the usual suspects for mid-September - Wheatear, Blackcap and Chiffchaff - were most numerous, with 5 White Wagtails and singles of Yellow-legged Gull, Grasshopper Warbler and Firecrest some of the less frequent list-padders at the Bill; elsewhere, 19 Pale-bellied Brent Geese dropped in at Ferrybridge.