There was a fair selection of both scarcer and routine arrivals today but we get the feel that just at the moment we're on the wrong side of the weather for the bulk of both bird and bug migration - whether the latest batch of rain that rolled across the Channel and wrote off the afternoon will make a difference remains to be seen. A
Wryneck and an
Ortolan Bunting provided the best of the scarcity interest at the Bill, with another
Ortolan seen earlier over Coombefield; the long-staying
Marsh Harrier remained at the Bill and another left out to sea from there, whilst on the common migrant front there sounded at dawn to have been a good drop of
phylloscs at the Bill but they were less apparent later when the 60 or so
Wheatears logged were the most conspicuous arrivals. The richest vein of less common migrants was tapped into at Coombefield/Thumb Lane where 2
Firecrests and 2
Pied Flycatchers were of interest. The conditions remained conducive for wader arrivals, with 2
Little Stints, a
Curlew Sandpiper and a
Black-tailed Godwit the best at Ferrybridge and 6
Common Sandpipers, 2
Snipe and a
Knot amongst others at the Bill; a
Teal on a garden pond at Sweethill was an unexpected waterfowl arrival.
Balearic Shearwaters again dominated off the Bill where at least 500 were offshore before the rain set in; 10
Arctic Skuas passed through or lingered there and terns featured strongly, with 50
Sandwich and 30
commics lingering and singles of
Arctic and
Black through offshore; another 8
Arctic Terns passed through at Ferrybridge where up to 100
Sandwich Terns were settled at times.
It was another of this sort of day - we don't know what the official rainfall total is for the last few days but from the fieldwork point of view it's suddenly got pretty grim with everywhere comprehensively muddy and dripping © Martin Cade:
Although inadvertently flushed up at point blank range the Ortolan at the Bill subsequently afforded no more than flying-away views © Martin Cade:
This Teal was an unexpected garden visitor at Sweethill...
...whilst, in the absence of yesterday's Baird's Sandpiper, the Little Stint at Ferrybridge got a lot of attention today © Pete Saunders:
Highlight from the bill this morning, a chap told me that a Convolvulous Hawk had just come in off the sea a flew right past him!! He kindly showed me where it landed!
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— Joe Stockwell (@joestockwell.bsky.social) Sep 7, 2024 at 10:07
