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24th November

Although the forecast upcoming chill begun to show its hand before the day was out this came too late to have much effect on the migrant situation, with no more than a trickle of late arrivals and departures showing up. At the Bill, thrushes were reduced to low single figures, 150 Starlings arrived from the south and 2 Blackcaps and singles of Snipe and Woodcock were new in; in fact the main interest there  concerned the lingerers, with the Hen Harrier, 4 Purple Sandpipers and singles of Merlin and Short-eared Owl all still about. Elsewhere, the Black Brant reappeared at Ferrybridge where 6 Pale-bellied Brents included some apparent new arrivals. Offshore, a Velvet Scoter passed the Bill where at least 250 Kittiwakes were amongst the feeding throng.

Whilst you can never tire of having a Hen Harrier in residence, it seemingly tired of our sub-optimal habitat offerings and eventually made the most of the clear sky and chill breeze to head away high to the southwest © Jodie Henderson (still) and Martin Cade (video):



The state of the tide is again favourable for the Brent Geese to visit Ferrybridge during the morning and the Black Brant and several Pale-bellied Brents were amongst the flock today © Pete Saunders:



I have photographed so many different birds over the years, this has to be top of the list for me, A male Hen Harrier today on Portland, what a great bird, many thanks to Martin Cade @PortlandBirdObs for the heads up pic.twitter.com/L8EsbbOJg9