Autumn is creeping upon us slowly with a couple of notable additions to our migrant totals. The first addition of the morning came when a
Pied Flycatcher stumbled into the garden nets, much to the delight of the mornings onlookers. A minimum of 4
Sedge Warblers in the crown estate fields were an improvement on recent tallies. The Obs garden has also hosted a small selection of warblers: 5
Willow Warblers, 1
Chiffchaff and 1
Lesser Whitethroat. A flyover
Yellow Wagtail and
Ringed Plover added a little zest to the mornings proceedings on the land and a skulking
Reed Warbler at Culverwell was only the second for the autumn. The increasingly hot afternoon turned up little other than a pair of
Willow Warblers at Culverwell, 6
Sand Martins and 38
Swifts. On top of the usual suspects during the morning sea watch (11
Common Scoter, 7
Manx Shearwater, 2
Balearic Shearwater and 11
Yellow-legged Gulls) there was a notable passage of c.250
Mediterranean Gulls, 6
Shelducks and a pale-phase
Arctic Skua amongst the regular Gull flock.
A juvenile
Merlin at Ferrybridge, a first for the autumn, also produced some excitement, although counts from the rest of the site were low in comparison with recent days: 3
Sanderling, 1
Redshank, 1
Yellow-legged Gull and 2
Little Terns.
Moths were extremely quiet, with a very poor night for migration providing just 6
Silver Y's and 1
Rusty-dot Pearl.
We have been tracking the reports of Pied Flycatchers as they have travelled down through the country across the last couple of weeks, it was a very welcome surprise to see our first today ©Erin Taylor:
This highly unusual Meadow Grasshopper
Chorthippus parallelusax is suffering from erythrism, a genetic trait similar to albinism. It is expressing a larger than normal amount of red pigment resulting in a pink grasshopper! The fact it has made it to this stage of life is remarkable given its increased chances of being predated, a wonderful find ©Martin Adlam: