3rd November

Whilst not endowed with the numbers of the migration fiestas of the last couple of days, today provided a nicely varied selection to give plenty of hope that autumn's far from over. Overhead passage continued to dominate, with 5500 Wood Pigeons, 1100 Jackdaws, 350 Starlings, 275 Goldfinches, 185 Chaffinches, 75 Siskins and 62 Bramblings making up the bulk of the tally over the Bill, where 2 Merlins and singles of Woodlark, Bullfinch and Snow Bunting featured amongst the lower totals. On the ground the reappearance of last week's Hen Harrier was unexpected, whilst even more of a surprise was a second individual that barely lingered before heading away north. A Siberian Chiffchaff was new at the Bill, where the Continental Coal Tit remained and 3 Swallows and singles of Wheatear, Black Redstart and Firecrest were logged amongst the thinnish selection on the ground.

After over a week in residence back in the last third of October - the only longer stayer we can remember was the bird in October 2016 that lingered for a fortnight - we weren't expecting a reappearance of the Hen Harrier; however, we did glean today that it's the same individual that visited Lodmoor from time to time during that previous residence so presumably its just wandering further afield now © Martin Cade:


We forgot to mention yesterday this post that appeared on a local Facebook group regarding a Cattle Egret taken into care on the island on Monday: