A Delicate at Sweethill was the best of the overnight immigrant moth catch; the tally of routine species at the Obs included 43 Diamond-back Moth, 18 Rusty-dot Pearl, 3 Silver Y, 2 Rush Veneer, a Dark Sword Grass and a Pearly Underwing.
Curlew Sandpiper and House Sparrow (with Great Green Bush-cricket) - Ferrybridge and Portlnd Bill, 4th September 2014 © Debby Saunders (Curlew Sand) and Martin King (House Sparrow)
And thanks to Jake Bailey for a particularly nice in-hand Redstart at the Obs from a couple of days ago:
...readers of our little piece on Redstarts last week will immediately recognise this as an adult - no sooner did we write that adults are distinctly uncommon here then, like buses, two arrive at once!
We've been lucky enough to be able to have close looks at quite a run of Redstarts in recent days, including a fair few females. They're much less straightforward to age than males, although with careful observation in decent light it's usually possible on first years to spot the difference between the darker edged innermost greater coverts (the adult-like feathers changed in the post-juvenile moult) and the paler-edged - still juvenile - outer feathers:
Sadly, we haven't caught an adult female to be able to illustrate here, but they should have a uniform set of darker-edged greater coverts. Although the contrast in the greater coverts looks relatively easy to spot here in good, natural light we'd still advise caution - under false light in a dingy ringing shed at dawn before a third cup of coffee has got your faculties engaged it can be a stern test for even the most acute vision.