22nd August

The time spent star gazing last night did not give us a huge level of optimism for a good day today, however the weather transmogrified and the morning brought with it thick cloud that must have formed over night. It was immediately obvious that some birds had arrived with the sounds of Willow Warblers flicking through the trees and Swallows swirling around the lighthouse. 77 birds were trapped in total between the garden and the Crown Estate Field. A passage of 135 Willow Warblers was supported by 18 Tree Pipits, 25 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Grey Wagtails, 3 Lesser Whitethroats, 5 Redstarts (plus an additional 2 at Southwell), 8 Sedge Warblers, 12 Pied Flycatchers, 4 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Chiffchaffs, 3 Whinchats and 36 Wheatears. The mornings sea watch came very much second to the land-based migration spectacle, so a total of 10 Manxies, 7 Common Scoter, 2 Mediterranean Gulls and 1 Balearic Shearwater were all the day had to offer. Elsewhere on the island 2 Sedge Warblers, 4 Whitethroats, 1 Pied Flycatchers, 18 Yellow Wagtails, 4 Tree Pipits and 2 Blackcaps in Suckthumb quarry.

Ferrybridge suffered from the gloom produced by the morning cloud cover and a total of 6 Curlew, 2 Sanderling, 1 Yellow-legged Gull and 3 Wheatears were the best of the offerings at dawn; an improvement later saw the year's first Curlew Sandpiper show up, along with 18 Curlew, 5 Common Sandpipers and a Merlin.

We've been very pleased that Nick Hopper has been able to make it down to spend a couple of nights engaged in some 'proper' nocturnal recording effort. Nick's first report covers the night before last - 20th/21st August: It was a night completely dominated by Tree Pipits; until midnight numbers of birds heard were able to be estimated, however after midnight the birds started to arrive in waves and so call counts were resorted to - by the end a total of 611 calls were logged!

Dunlin and Ringed Plover were also moving in numbers with regular calling throughout the night from apparently single birds to decent sized flocks. Other birds logged: Spotted Flycatcher 3, Pied Flycatcher 2, Robin 12, Yellow Wagtail 2, Sandwich Tern 1, Common Sandpiper 1, Knot 1 and a flock of Whimbrel.




This juvenile Kestrel was making quite a nuisance of herself around the garden so it was good to finally see her up close and personal © Glenn Maddison


Its always good to catch a potential confusion pairing together for a nice comparison shot, especially when you don't usually get to handle many Tree Pipits, he looks awfully smart compared to the juvenile Meadow Pipit © Erin Taylor:


One of today's Redstarts at Southwell © Nick Stantiford: