23rd September

Changes afoot on the weather front saw a lot more cloud in the sky and a brisk breeze blowing all day; sadly there was no perceivable uptick in the quality of the birding, with grounded common migrants - Blackcaps aside - stubbornly few and far between and visible passage much more subdued than in recent days. A few aggregations of Blackcaps around the centre and south of the island amounted to at least a three figure total that would no doubt have been considerably higher but for the lack of coverage elsewhere; little else even managed a double figure total, with a Firecrest at Thumb Lane easily the best quality-wise. Wader numbers continue to hold up quite well, with 91 Ringed Plovers, 5 Sanderling and 3 Bar-tailed Godwits amongst the mix at Ferrybridge. Visible passage amounted to no more than a light trickle of Swallows and Meadow Pipits.