Today's Marsh Harrier was a much plainer individual than yesterday's more variegated bird © Martin Cade:
4th September
A day for vismig aficionados with the morning sky alive with a torrent of hirundines and other active migrants; on the other hand, those that spent any time staring into bushes for grounded migrants were sorely disappointed with a conspicuous lack of anything anywhere. The stiff easterly and clear blue sky was certainly full of Swallows, with the 2500 through over Ferrybridge in the first couple of hours of the day an adequate reflection of events everywhere; the other two common hirundines were also well represented, the first 90 moving Meadow Pipits of the autumn passed over the Bill and oddities included 2 Little Egrets, 2 Hobbys and a Marsh Harrier; among the other seasonal regulars, Yellow Wagtails, Grey Wagtails and Tree Pipits were also all on the move but their numbers were lower than might have been expected. A Quail flushed from beside a footpath at the Bill was a fortunate sighting but, waders aside, common migrants were grounded in dismal numbers, with 3 White Wagtails the best of a bad job at the Bill. Waders included 122 Ringed Plovers and 84 Dunlin at Ferrybridge. Seabirds didn't respond well to the strengthening easterly, with just 14 Balearic Shearwaters amongst what little was on the move off the Bill.
