6th October

Quality continues to have taken the place of quantity with the second Red-breasted Flycatcher of the weekend - this one at the Obs - the day's star bird; single Yellow-browed Warblers were also new in at the Crown Estate Field and Culverwell, with further presumably continuing birds (there are so many in the country that assuming that probably isn't at all safe) at Avalanche Road and Thumb Lane. Thorough coverage wasn't the order of the day, with sporadic mizzle setting in by mid-morning and a band of heavier rain passing through during the afternoon, but other morsels of interest uncovered included a scatter of 7 Firecrests and a Merlin on the land and 6 Balearic Shearwaters through off the Bill.

Today's Red-breasted Flycatcher was considerably trickier to get a good view of in the field than yesterday's Culverwell bird had been © Ralph Todd...


...so its beauty was best appreciated in the hand; adult males like this one are extremely rare for us: we can think of only two previous autumn records for the island - at Southwell on 19th-23rd September 1996 and at Pennsylvania Castle on 17th-18th November 2002 - whilst none of the spring birds have been adults © Martin Cade:




The Crown Estate Field Yellow-browed Warbler © Martin Cade:



Ringing numbers dropped off this weekend - just 25 birds ringed at the Bill today - but quality on the up: Red-breasted Fly and Yellow-browed Warbler both new for the year - the latter our first one coloured- ringed as part of a national project (>100 marked elsewhere in the UK so far this autumn)

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 6, 2024 at 11:18 PM

Always a wee bit too windy for really successful mothing at the Obs this weekend but fair numbers of routine migrants on both nights; first Oak Rustic of the season the best of residents

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 6, 2024 at 11:05 PM