9th November

Quite a miscellany today with calm and mild conditions affording plenty of opportunities for exploration. Chief amongst the quality was the season's second Pallas's Warbler that showed up, together with a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Firecrest, at Pennsylvania Castle; another Yellow-browed Warbler remained at Southwell, the Rosy Starling remained at Easton (although it also wandered further afield to Blacknor for a while during the morning) and a Tree Sparrow was at the Bill. Migrant numbers were a little down on the highs of the weekend, with Goldcrests falling back to about the 100 mark and visible passage reduced to little more than a trickle, although by way of tardy summer visitors it did include a Swallow at the Bill and 2 House Martins at Penn's Weare. The now customary scatter of Black Redstarts, along with a Merlin, provided further interest on the land, a Great Skua passed by off the Bill and 9 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 2 Sanderling and a Knot were of note at Ferrybridge.

It's been a really good late autumn for Merlins, with this at times quite confiding bird a frequent sight at the Bill in recent days © Geoff Orton:



Ferrybridge can always be relied on to boost flagging numbers at this time of year, with a couple of late Sanderlings a noteworthy sight just at the moment © Debby Saunders (top) and Pete Saunders (bottom)...



...given an appropriate state of the tide, there's usually a few Pale-bellied Brents amongst the Dark-bellied Brent flock © Pete Saunders:


We'd have liked to have furnished visitors to the blog with a nice photograph of the Pallas's Warbler but, sadly, it was fabulously elusive and afforded little more than the occasional fleeting glimpse; the Yellow-browed Warbler was hardly more obliging as it lurked deep inside the dingiest of cover © Martin Cade: