Everything ticked along nicely in extremely benign and, by the afternoon, really warm conditions but ultimately the day's migrant selection was rather underwhelming, with less grounded than might have been hoped out of a quite overcast dawn and not as much on the move overhead than we'd seen yesterday. A good spread of
Chiffchaffs,
Blackcaps and
Goldcrests was evident everywhere, but 2 each of
Dartford Warbler and
Firecrest, a
Great Spotted Woodpecker and the lingering
Siberian Lesser Whitethroat were a limited return for the amount of shoe leather expended during some wide-ranging coverage of the land. Ferrybridge was slightly more productive from the numbers point of view, including 400
Mediterranean Gulls, 145
Brent Geese, 141
Ringed Plovers, 90
Dunlin, 21
Turnstones, 3
Bar-tailed Godwits and a
Grey Plover. Overhead rewards included 2
Crossbills over the Bill, where the numbers included 480
Linnets, 300
Swallows, 240
Goldfinches, 200
Meadow Pipits, 180
alba wagtails, 80
Siskins, 75
Chaffinches and 25
Skylarks. Both
Kittiwakes and
auks totalled well into four figures off the Bill, but 2
Arctic Skuas were as good as it got for quality there.
Ringing gathered a bit of momentum at the Bill today: 180 new incl 74 Swallows, 22 Chiffchaffs and 18 Blackcaps; nice variety of other seasonable movers incl 7 Pied Wagtails, 5 Long-tailed Tits, 4 Redpolls and a Firecrest...
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 7, 2025 at 10:43 PM
...also on the ringing front: we've received notification of a fantastic recovery of a Firecrest ringed here last October that was controlled a few days ago by a ringer in the Czech Republic - the first movement of a UK-ringed Firecrest to the Czech Republic or indeed to anywhere in central Europe
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 7, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Last night's migrant moth catch not really up to expectations - stayed too clear and moonlit for too long? An Old World Webworm, 2 Olive-tree Pearl, 3 Vestal and 5 White-speck the best of the less regulars at the Obs.
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
