Any thoughts that the relative dearth of migrants by day reflects a lack of passage in our part of the world are often refuted by evidence from nocmig recordings and today proved another case in point: despite seemingly promising-looking conditions, dawn saw a notably underwhelming fall of grounded migrants at the Bill but later cursory scrutiny of the nocturnal recording at the Obs revealed an almost night-long passage of
Tree Pipits in particular that petered out only as daylight approached. A little overhead passage was still evident early in the morning, with 82
Yellow Wagtails, 57
Tree Pipits and a miscellany of other ones and twos including a passing
Osprey logged at the Bill but these numbers paled into insignificance compared with the minimum of 746
Tree Pipit calls tallied overnight; grounded totals were very insignificant, with little more than 40
Willow Warblers, 4
Blackcaps, 2
Pied Flycatchers and a
Garden Warbler at the Bill. Waders continued to be better represented, with 244
Ringed Plover, 138
Dunlin, 32
Turnstones, 27
Sanderling, 3
Whimbrel, 2
Knot, 2
Common Sandpipers and singles of both
Black and
Bar-tailed Godwits at Ferrybridge joined by the first 2
Little Stints of the autumn. The sea was as hard work as the land, with a lot of watching at the Bill producing no more than 32
Manx and 11
Balearic Shearwaters, and 3
Arctic Skuas.
Little Stint's due a good autumn so hopefully these first two of the season will prove to be just the vanguard © Debby Saunders:
Perhaps two Ospreys before we've even seen the back of August will also prove a sign of things to come ©
Simon Colenutt The Deskbound Birder:
