17th December

The elusive Yellow-browed Warbler at Pennsylvania Castle surfaced again today and was the best of the bunch on what proved to be an increasingly mild but always dreary and sometimes damp day. The released Great Bustards spent at least the first couple of hours of the day at the Bill where 9 Purple Sandpipers and singles of Redwing, Goldcrest and Firecrest were about on the land and 52 Red-throated Divers, 12 Common Scoter and a Little Gull passed through/lingered offshore. A Blackcap was a new arrival in a garden at Southwell, whilst 11 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 5 Great Northern Divers, 2 Black-necked Grebes, 2 Redshanks and singles of Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit were at Ferrybridge/Portland Harbour.

Common Gulls at Ferrybridge today © Debby Saunders: