16th September

Most certainly a day of two halves with an excellent morning's birding coming to an abrupt halt as at times epic quantities of rain completely washed out the afternoon. The presence of rain all morning not too far away in the Channel looked to be instrumental in interrupting the progress of active migrants that wouldn't ordinarily have grounded at the Bill, with a higher than usual proportion of adult birds identified both in the hand and in the field; a brief post-deluge ringing attempt at dusk also resulted in the capture of a notably heavy Blackcap (such birds rarely feature amongst the captures in the sub-optimal habitat at the Bill). With woefully inadequate coverage it was difficult to get a full handle on numbers at the Bill, but minima on the ground included 250 Wheatears, 75 each of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, 35 Whinchats, 25 Blackcaps, 15 Spotted Flycatchers, 8 Redstarts, 4 Wrynecks and 4 Grasshopper Warblers; singles of Cuckoo, Wood Warbler and Firecrest featured amongst a wide variety of other ones and twos. Visible passage overhead was also incompletely covered, with the totals of 1000 Swallows, 300 Meadow Pipits, 200 Siskins, 100 House Martins, 35 Yellow Wagtails and 20 Tree Pipits logged heading into the brisk north-easterly at the Bill likely falling well short of the true numbers on the move.

Overnight conditions weren't too bad for mothing, with decent numbers of immigrants making it into the Obs traps; the total of 77 Rush Veneers was a new high for the year, whilst 3 Scarce Bordered Straw and a White-speck were the best of the scarcer arrivals.