15th October

Pretty wild westerly weather did nobody any favours today and there was only the most meagre of day-lists to show from a good amount of weekend fieldwork. Even allowing for the unhelpful conditions it was clear that grounded migrants were very sparsely spread, with single Dartford Warblers at the Bill and Penn's Weare, and Firecrests at the north of the island (2) and Thumb Lane the only minor highlights; a few diurnal migrants were battling through into the wind, with a late Sand Martin over the Bill about as good as it got overhead. Hopes for a shearwater-fest from the sea were very quickly dashed and regular seawatch sessions returned just 4 Balearic Shearwaters and a Sooty Shearwater amongst the routine fare.

The first hours of darkness had been relatively calm and there was another decent catch of immigrant moths, with 80 Rush Veneer, 37 Rusty-dot Pearl, 9 Turnip, 2 Scarce Bordered Straw and singles of Diamond-back, Vestal, Hummingbird Hawkmoth and White-speck making up the tally at the Obs; also of note there were unseasonable singles of Rosy-striped Knot-horn Oncocera semirubella and Least Yellow Underwing.