8th September

A steady trickle of migrants today as the winds stayed in the North and continued to relax. An Ortolan Bunting that decided to show well, albeit always distantly, in the Crown Estate Field was undoubtedly the highlight of the day, closely followed by the lingering Wryneck that seems to be conquering its stage fright by showing throughout the day in the Obs Quarry. Common migrants were present in small numbers including four Spotted Flycatchers, three Sedge Warblers, three Reed Warblers, two Snipe, two Goldcrests (the first of the autumn) and singles of Whinchat and Redstart. The sea produced little of note but 2 Shovelers were new for the autumn and another 3 Balearic Shearwaters passed by. Ferrybridge held the first Common Gull of the autumn and a lone Yellow-legged Gull.

The Ortolan Bunting was always rather too far away for our cameras ©  Martin Cade:



The Obs Quarry Wryneck was definitely feeling more showy than in recent days © Susan Buckland:


We haven't been bothering much with gulls this autumn so the season's tally of Yellow-legged Gulls has been appreciably lower than in most recent years; however, this nicely white-headed Yellow-legged Gull stuck out like a sore thumb in the failing light of dusk at Ferrybridge and was worth getting wet feet to get a closer view of © Martin Cade:



Also there, this Common Gull was the first we'd seen since the spring - the first winter returnees aren't usually logged until early October so this was quite an early bird © Martin Cade: