6th October

Once more unto the west the wind went and our frustratingly quiet days continued. A Merlin harassing the moderate pipit passage was joined by a Short-eared Owl being harassed by the rather colossal gull flock. Pied Wagtails put in an impressive show with 125 across the bill area and Meadow Pipits were conspicuous once again, but other migrants were thin on the ground.

Although it's still relatively early in the season for them, migrant Short-eared Owls have been in pretty short supply so far this autumn; this one came in at the Bill this morning but it was made to work really hard: it was first spotted off East Cliffs but was constantly beaten back offshore by the local gulls - it took over an hour of repeated attempts to make landfall before it reached its goal © Ken King: