24th September

Hardly a migrant bonanza today but encouraging signs all round of a little more action befitting what really ought to one of the busiest periods of the season: both grounded arrivals and visible passage picked up, whilst a resurgence in Balearic Shearwaters provided some entertainment for the seawatchers who've been mightily underemployed just lately. The numbers were all overhead, with 1000 Meadow Pipits through over the Bill where Swallows pulsed through in quantity at times. On the ground some decent aggregations of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were evident everywhere, Stonechats were prominent for the first time this autumn and variety included ones and twos of most of what might be expected in late September; of local interest were two singing Cetti's Warblers at Portland Port - maybe the birds that had hitherto been semi-resident beside the nearby Merchant's Incline? Balearic Shearwaters and Mediterranean Gulls - that totalled 142 and 117 respectively off the Bill - accounted for the bulk of the numbers offshore.

This lonesome Dark-bellied Brent has got ahead of itself and continues to whirr about over Ferrybridge looking for its yet to arrive mates © Pete Saunders: