While the Chough continued to steal the show as bird of the day during the morning that position was usurped during the afternoon by an Alpine Swift that was discovered over Castletown; the Chough was considerably more mobile and at times trickier to catch up with than it had been yesterday, ranging at least as far north as Weston, whilst the Alpine Swift proved to be a short-stayer that moved on ahead of heavy rain setting in; 2 Serins at Castletown were a nice bonus scarcity for the finder of the Alpine Swift. With the land almost bereft of new arrivals - not a single bird was trapped at the Obs in nearly six hours of trying - it was left to the sea to provide the rest of the day's interest, with 4 Great Northern Divers, 3 Pomarine Skuas and an Arctic Skua logged at the Bill.
Beggars can't be choosers and although it would have been nice to have admired the Alpine Swift at length against the beautiful blue sky of the morning we were happy enough with a few minutes worth of it in less than ideal conditions before it promptly vanished ahead of the rain that set in during the afternoon © Martin Cade:
The Chough mightn't have been so obliging on the ground as it was yesterday but it certainly wasn't shy about revealing its whereabouts when it was overhead © Pete Saunders:
