10th October

Any day with a Red-breasted Flycatcher in temporary residence is a good day - in fact today there was so little else about that it more or less saved the day. Encouragingly, dawn had broken to completely overcast skies but that optimism quickly evaporated as it became clear that the trees were empty of new arrivals and almost nothing was dropping out of the cloud; the odd few thrushes - including single Ring Ouzels at Chesil Cove and Coombefield - and other newcomers did eventually materialise but for the most part it remained painfully quiet everywhere. A small passage of Pied Wagtails, Meadow Pipits and various finches developed overhead, where 110 departing Lesser Black-backed Gulls were also of interest, whilst the sea returned totals of 10 Balearic Shearwaters and 6 Arctic Skuas.

Although first found out amongst the beach huts, the Red-breasted Flycatcher quickly relocated to the Obs garden where it resided for the rest of the day but was always super-active and quite a little s*d to see well in the field...



...however, eventually it did turn up in a mist-net © Nick Hopper...


...and some extra detail © Martin Cade:




It called a fair bit, usually the characteristic rattle but quite frequently also the completely different 'squeaky gate' call; our recordings were trashed by the strength of the wind and multitude of rustling leaves but you get the idea © Martin Cade: