Diminishing returns really have kicked in and despite the wind abating it remained firmly in the east to continue the recent run of sameyness that migrants have no doubt got entirely accustomed to. It was quiet on all fronts today, with 2
Pomarine Skuas through off the Bill the only highlight. Grounded arrivals were at a premium, with
Chiffchaffs outnumbering
Willow Warbler amongst the meagre spread of
phylloscs and one or two
Whinchats the only less regulars on offer at the Bill. Numbers also declined overhead, with 3
Yellow Wagtails and a
White Wagtail providing some of the only interest amongst the hirundines. Aside from the Pomarine Skuas, cumulative sea totals from the Bill and Chesil included 120
Whimbrel, 110
Bar-tailed Godwits, 8
Little Gulls, 3
Red-throated Divers, 2
Red-breasted Mergansers and 2
Arctic Skuas.
Today's Ferrybridge miscellany included Shelducks, Mute Swans and a Curlew © Pete Saunders:
Since we happened to mention a few posts ago the frequency with which Coots and Moorhens are logged by the nocmig recorder at the Obs, there was a particularly nice recording of a Coot from a quarter to midnight last night - by the sound of it it flew right over the Obs. To put this in perspective, whilst we have umpteen loggings every year of them passing overhead at night, the last daytime sighting of a Coot at the Bill was eleven years ago and the vast majority of active fieldworkers there don't even have Coot on their Bill list!
