6th November

An ever freshening wind spoilt proceedings today although not before a Dusky Warbler had shown up at the Higher Light to provide a much-needed sniff of rarity action. The 2 Black Brants were again at Ferrybridge and the lingering Glaucous Gull showed up on Chesil Beach, whilst local oddities included 5 Woodlarks leaving to the south over the Bill, 7 Mute Swans at Ferrybridge and single Black Redstarts at the Bill and Church Ope Cove. New commoner migrants weren't plentiful but included a few Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs, thrushes and finches at the Bill, whilst the goose totals at Ferrybridge increased to 2120 Dark-bellied and 7 Pale-bellied Brents. For a while it looked as though sea passage might be picking up but no sooner had 100 Kittiwakes and 3 Great Skuas passed through off the Bill then movement fizzled out.

Despite largely clear skies overnight it remained quite mild and there was a decent arrival of immigrant moths at the Obs; a Red-headed Chestnut was the highlight, with 13 White-speck, 3 Radford's Flame Shoulder and an Olive-tree Pearl amongst the rest of the catch.

The Dusky Warbler proved to be a frustrating bird: when first discovered it was very vocal and easy to follow even if it afforded little more than glimpses and flight views - it had all the feel of something that had just dropped in; however, it quickly became all but silent and before long vanished into thin air just as we thought we had it pinned down in an isolated clump of Tree Mallows - all we were left with to remember it by was a dodgy phone-recording:

Goldcrest was again the most conspicuous common migrant of the day - this one was in a random wind-swept bush high on the West Cliffs © Martin Cade:

This morning's Mute Swans at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:

Today's Red-headed Chestnut was the tenth for the island but the first since 2011© Martin Cade: