Yesterday's wild winds hadn't diminished to nearly the degree that had been expected and it was still well beyond brisk at dawn, with the evening seeing the beginnings of what's promised to be another battering blow.
Meadow Pipits, and to a lesser extent
Wheatears, made up the bulk of the day's common migrant tally and two old faithfuls - the Obs Quarry
Wryneck and the Southwell
Hoopoe - again saved the day on the scarcity front. The morning's
Meadow Pipit total at the Bill got up to around the 400 mark and accounted for the best part of the visible passage tally; the 70 or so
Wheatears were easily the most conspicuous component of the grounded array that otherwise lacked virtually anything in the way of minor quality. For the most part the sea was quiet but a little flurry of late afternoon pre-rain passage saw 17
Balearic Shearwaters, 6
Sandwich Terns and a
Sooty Shearwater logged at the Bill.
Two
Dark Sword Grass and a single
Hummingbird Hawkmoth were the only immigrant moths trapped overnight at the Obs.
The Hoopoe - at least we presume it's the individual that was at the Bill early last week and can't see any reason from these photos to suggest that it isn't - continues to pop up randomly and seemingly always quite briefly in a variety of birder's back gardens at Southwell. A few folk traipsed the streets looking for it today and all drew a blank so it seems as though it isn't disporting itself anywhere where it's accessible/visible when not tucked away behind the houses © Nick Stantiford (upper) and Gary White (lower):
