After a spell of half-decent passage we seem to have slipped out of the groove over the last couple of days, with overnight rain and murky skies at dawn today not dropping the arrival of thrushes that could so easily have been in the offing. In fact the conditions dropped very little of consequence save for a new Yellow-browed Warbler at Culverwell; whether the additional Yellow-broweds clocked at Avalanche Road and Thumb Lane were also new arrivals or emerging lingerers remains to be seen. What small arrival of thrushes there was consisted of 28 Redwings at Thumb Lane and another dozen at the Bill; Chiffchaff numbers seemed to have fallen away everywhere and there was precious little else uncovered on the ground bar a Great Spotted Woodpecker at Avalanche and the lingering singles of Hen Harrier at the Bill and Black Redstart at Thumb Lane. Overhead passage was stronger, with 810 Linnets 312 Chaffinches, 150 Goldfinches and 69 Siskins making up the bulk of the numbers over the Bill; singles of Great White Egret, Little Egret, Lapwing, Snipe and Brambling were among the lower totals there. Singles of Balearic Shearwater and Arctic Skua passed by off the Bill along with 600 auks and 400 Mediterranean Gulls.
Very big catch of presumably fairly short-distance migrant arrivals in the Obs moth-traps last night incl 88 Olive-tree Pearls vitrealis = their highest ever Portland total; 205 ferrugalis & 31 Scarce Bordered Straw = their highest totals this year; 3 Vestals & 1 Gem the only minor scarcities.
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 15, 2024 at 11:30 AM
[image or embed]
