Quite why there wasn't a worthwhile arrival of common migrants - let alone a Melodious Warbler or whatever else could have shown up - out of wafting southeasterlies and increasing warmth defied obvious explanation today (...as did the utter lack of new migrant moths in the moth-traps). It wasn't completely dead, with 30 Wheatears, 25 Willow Warblers, 5 Sedge Warblers and singles of Redshank, Redstart, Whinchat (the latter two both firsts of the autumn), Reed Warbler and Garden Warbler grounded at the Bill, a Pied Flycatcher at Reap Lane (another first for the season) and 142 Ringed Plovers, 62 Dunlin and 4 Sanderlings at Ferrybridge, whilst overhead an aggregation of at times more than 200 Swifts over the Bill was impressive. Offshore, the Kittiwake movement continued albeit at a slightly reduced rate, with 234 through off the Bill; 6 Arctic Skuas and a small passage of departing Lesser Black-backed Gulls were also of interest there.
Also today we received details from Tara Watson, the Chesil Little Tern Recovery Project Officer, of the outcome of not only the Ferrybridge Little Tern colony but also the other birds of interest breeding in and around the colony; these are as follows:
Little Tern
Total nests 60
Nests hatched 34
Nests
failed 24
Unknown 2
Total chick count (hatched/presumed
hatched) 61-78
Minimum fledgling count 40-45
Oystercatcher
Total nests 3
Nests hatched 2
Nests failed 1
Total chick count (known hatched) 6
Fledgling count 2
Ringed Plover
Total nests 4
Nests hatched 3
Failed 2
Total chick count (hatched/presumed
hatched) 5-9
Minimum fledgling count 3-5
Common Tern
Total nests 1 (one egg, failed after abandonment by parents)
