At least until well into the afternoon a more heavily overcast day than expected - conditions that might have been expected to produce a good drop of migrants; sadly, today wasn't that sort of day although its blushes were more than spared by the year's first
Melodious Warbler turning up in a mist-net at the Obs, the highest count to date of
Balearic Shearwaters over the sea and a
Honey Buzzard through overhead at the Bill. Migrant numbers left a lot to be desired, with still no more than a thin spread of
Wheatears,
Sedge Warblers,
Whitethroats and
Willow Warblers at the Bill, amongst which the likes of 15 mainly overflying
Tree Pipits, 4
Grey Herons, 3
Yellow Wagtails, a
Greenshank, a
Blackcap and a
Spotted Flycatcher were hardly the sort of variety to excite. Offshore, the surge of 61
Balearic Shearwaters was a highpoint and very welcome after their woeful showing so far this summer/autumn;
Arctic Skuas continued their strong showing with 8 more through and
Lesser Black-backed Gulls continued to trickle away to the south but sea movement was otherwise rather limited. Twelve
Whimbrel were the pick of the day's waders at Ferrybridge.
Autumn Melodious Warblers - particularly youngsters that are the almost exclusive rule at this time of year - are often rather subdued in saturation but today's bird was having none of that and was heading towards as bright as a spring adult...
...although causing many a quandary in the field, the in-hand separation from Icterine Warbler is a lot more straightforward: wing length alone separates all but the tiniest proportion (today's bird with a wing length of 64mm was way, way short of anything possible for an Icterine Warbler) but there are always simple visible features that can be checked at a glance like the number of primary emarginations (three on this Melodious but only two on an Icterine) © Martin Cade:
