The gentle northerly and heavily overcast sky that greeted the day looked altogether more propitious and dropped a steady trickle of
thrushes everywhere; the 40
Redwings and 11
Fieldfares through at the Bill also had an unexpected travelling companion in the form of a late
Ring Ouzel. However, disappointingly little else showed up, with a
Snipe overhead at the Bill the only other obvious newcomer.
Black Redstarts remained there and a Church Ope Cove, 3
Short-eared Owls emerged at the Bill as dusk fell and the Ferrybridge miscellany included 170
Dunlin, 40
Ringed Plovers, 2
Sanderling and a
Goosander. Seawatching at the Bill racked a total of 10
Red-throated Divers, together with 2
Pale-bellied Brent Geese, a noticeable increase in
auks and a peculiar pre-dusk aggregation of more than 70
Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
The day's thrushes - including this Fieldfare through at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders - were very active migrants, arriving in off the sea and heading away quickly northward...
...although quite why in late November they should include this Ring Ouzel was a bit of a mystery © Martin Cade:
Their sudden arrival didn't escape the attention of this Sparrowhawk that killed one of the Redwings but then made the mistake of flying into the Obs garden to consume it, whereupon it gained a ring but unfortunately lost its breakfast © Martin Cade:
