3rd October

There was a galvanising start to the day when a nightjar species was watched over the Obs garden as dawn broke - sadly, the views were relatively brief and inconclusive with regard to identity, and there was no further sign of the bird through the day or at dusk. Despite the continuing - and constantly strengthening - westerly the sky was clear enough that visible passage picked dramatically, with 2500 Meadow Pipits and 1200 Linnets through over the Bill where three Merlins were amongst the miscellany tagging along. This increase overhead wasn't reflected on the ground where two Spotted Flycatchers were as good as it got amongst the very sparse spread of expected fare at the Bill. The wind was always a little too far into the west to do much for the sea, with 12 Balearic Shearwaters, three Arctic Skuas and a Great Skua the best that could be mustered from a lot of watching at the Bill; elsewhere, two Little Gulls were lingering at Chesil Cove. Dark-bellied Brent Geese are beginning to appear now at Ferrybridge, with 45 settled there this morning.