An uneventful end to the month with passerine migration reduced to a trickle in the aftermath of yesterday's stormy conditions. Odds and ends grounded at the Bill included 5 Willow Warblers and 4 Sedge Warblers, whilst the Ferrybridge wader tally was almost unchanged on 48 Dunlin, 30 Ringed Plover, 7 Sanderling and a Whimbrel. A resoundingly hopeless seawatch at the Bill saw little more than a single Balearic Shearwater logged.
The inexorable spread across England of the Roesel's Bush-cricket has been a remarkable event of the last three decades. First recorded in Dorset at Hengistbury Head in 2005, there followed a rapid spread westward, mainly along the Stour and Frome river valleys; north Portland was reached a few years ago but we hadn't heard of any sightings at the Bill until this summer when individuals have been photographed in Top Fields. The first arrival at the Obs - it was actually found indoors in the lounge - occurred this last week © Martin Cade:
