6th September

Portland Bill
Migrants Wheatear 18, Grey Wagtail 15, Tree Pipit 6, Blackcap 5, Willow Warbler 5, Yellow Wagtail 3, Whinchat 2, and singles including Caspian Gull, Lesser Whitethroat and Pied Flycatcher.
Sea passage Balearic Shearwater 52 w 9e, Kittiwake 37w, Manx Shearwater 1w.

Ferrybridge
Dunlin 220, Ringed Plover 120, Sanderling 20, Knot 2 + 20e, Curlew Sandpiper 1, Little Stint 1, Bar-tailed Godwit 1.

Moths
Selected immigrants Obs: Rusty-dot Pearl 67, Rush Veneer 25, Delicate 10, Turnip 4, Vestal 1, Silver Y 1.

With yesterday evening's attempt to see/video the Little Stint thwarted by the onset of an electric storm and the heavens opening we endured a virtual repeat this evening when biblical quantities of rain and rumbling thunder greeted our arrival at Ferrybridge; fortunately, a clearance just as dusk was falling did at least allow us to see it even if conditions were hardly optimal © Martin Cade:


Earlier, we'd been pleased to finally get to the bottom of an ongoing mystery - that of a Japanese Quail at Blacknor. We'd first become aware of this matter several weeks ago when mystery calls emanating from the area had been identified on a BirdForum thread initiated by a visitor from abroad as belonging to a Japanese Quail. We didn't follow up the matter at the time but after an alert today from a member of the public who reported hearing unfamiliar calls in the same area 'for several months' we decided to check it out. It very quickly became apparent that not only are there captive Japanese Quails in an allotment there but some have escaped and are at liberty in an adjacent quarry where two singing males were clearly audible if always invisible in thick cover from where we failed to lure them out with playback © Martin Cade: