A day we foolishly wrote off having seen the weather forecast the previous evening started slowly in the obs with the staff contemplating their various caffeine based drinks rather than the days birding, however a call about a CaspianGull in the Culverwell flock finally kicked off the day. The next surprise came from the woefully neglected garden as a Long-earedOwl was flushed out during the opening net round, it was then re-sighted going between the garden and the huts for much of the morning. The day was not over, however, as a Richard'sPipit first seen heading south over the patio and watched as it headed out to sea was an excellent highlight for the observers gathered in the doorway (this occurred just prior to a rather tremendous rain shower). The final bit of excitement came from a seeming mass hallucination culminating in a slightly disappointing twitch of a WillowWarbler (see pictures below). Other birds sighted on a slightly peculiar day included two Yellow-browedWarblers in Culverwell, four Firecrests around the Obs and a total of 6900 Woodpigeons heading south.
We had an entertaining little interlude during the morning when we received news of a Dusky or Radde's Warbler at Osprey Quay. On arrival a quick look at the observer's photos led to a far too hasty call of it being an obvious Dusky and when it duly appeared that identification was further accepted and everyone blazed away with cameras etc etc:
