25th August

A crisp, calm and clear morning gave an indication that the end of the summer is nigh. Although not necessarily helpful for the ringing totals, the clear skies and Westerly winds did not hamper a reasonable sightings list, the highlights being 2 Grasshopper Warblers (they have been a scarce commodity this year), 44 Yellow Wagtails and 3 Reed Warblers. In addition to this we had: 3 Sand Martins, 10 Tree Pipits, 6 Sedge Warblers, 37 Wheatears, 8 Whinchats, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Alba Wagtail, 15 Willow Warblers and a lone Chiffchaff. A marginally less productive sea watch than yesterday saw 47 Manx Shearwaters past, 8 Balearics, 2 Oystercatchers, 2 Common Scoters and 1 Bonxie

Ferrybridge returned to its usual early autumnal standards with: 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Whimbrel, 19 Turnstone, 80 Dunlin, 8 Ringed Plover, 2 Sandwich Terns, 4 Wheatears, 1 Little Egret and 3 Sanderling

Yellow Wagtails are never straightforward birds to trap at Portland and despite a flock of 40 swirling above the Crown Estate Field at dawn we only succeeded in trapping one individual © Martin Cade/Erin Taylor:


Judging by their numbers picked up overhead during recent nocturnal recording sessions it's a fair bet that a good proportion of Tree Pipits have already left the country - our efforts with the nets this morning yielded just this single © Martin Cade/Erin Taylor