14th November

A mightily enjoyable day with movement afoot throughout and a constant vibe that something good was about to appear - the fact that it didn't was really neither here nor there! Numbers accumulated by way of an early southbound passage of pigeons and a much more constant trickle of thrushes and finches arriving in off the sea into the northerly breeze, with totals from the Obs that included 910 Wood Pigeons, 330 Stock Doves, 250 Chaffinches, 210 Redwings, 150 Blackbirds, 24 Fieldfares and 22 Bramblings, with the likes of 3 Redpolls, 3 Reed Buntings and singles of  Merlin, Woodcock, Snipe, Swallow and Serin adding some nice variety. With reports of a steady passage of a similar selection of common migrants at other sites it's likely the true totals for the island as a whole were considerably higher; 3 Jays and another Woodcock were amongst the oddities logged elsewhere. There was more about on the ground that has been the case for a while even if the numbers and variety were far below what might have been expected: a new Siberian Chiffchaff at the Bill was an addition to the lingerer still present there, a new Black Redstart was at the Bill and a handful of new Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were evident everywhere; a Firecrest was also still at Pennsylvania Castle.