28th October

With the weather repeating itself with alarming regularity, we were prepared to assume that tonight's blog would look very similar to the past few days. However, a slight reduction in the wind this morning allowed us to open a single (very sheltered) net, which turned up the Obs' third Red-breasted Flycatcher of the year. Given how elusive the summer bird was - even when we were able to hear it on a flat calm day- it would be easy to assume that the bird could have arrived before today. A smattering of more routine migrants between showers included a Merlin, a Redwing, three Blackcaps and good numbers of Chaffinches across the island. The sea saw the first returning Fulmar of the winter, three Bonxies and a Yellow-legged Gull. Ferrybridge saw a small increase in Brent Geese with 310 Dark-bellied and four Pale-bellied; the Rosy Starling also continued its lengthy residency at Easton. 

The Red-breasted Flycatcher was an entirely serendipitous capture in a net that had only been opened on the off chance of catching a Redwing that had been seen in the vicinity © Martin Cade:


There's been a great Gannet flock gathering off the Bill for the last week or so. At times at the weekend they were fantastically close inshore below the Obs such that the the air was filled with the din of their calling; they've usually been a bit further out since that time but as this little bit of video taken from the Obs patio doorway this morning shows they're still providing quite a spectacle © Martin Cade: