Today's light northwesterlies saw a scattering of new arrivals around the Bill - in light of recent events, beggars certainly can't be choosers and the combined totals of 55
Wheatears, 50
Blackcaps, 30
Willow Warblers, 25
Chiffchaff, 10
Sedge Warbler and singles of
Reed Warbler,
White Wagtail and
Spotted Flycatcher were certainly welcome signs of improvement. The
Rose-coloured Starling lingered on at Weston but the chief scarcity surprise of the day was the reappearance of the
Nightingale first trapped way back on the 26th August - whilst Portland Nightingales have a track record for lingering during the autumn it was a tad alarming to think that if this bird can go undetected for a fortnight what else might we be missing. Thick cloud cover seemed to slow momentum overhead, with just 45
Yellow Wagtails, 20
Grey Wagtails, 10
Tree Pipits, a
Merlin,
Little Egret and a
Grey Heron over the Bill. Whilst an uptick in
Kittiwakes saw 193 logged past the Bill, the rest of the day's seawatch was uneventful with just 55
Manx Shearwaters and 3
Arctic Skuas of note.
Insects provided some of the day's most exciting migration happenings, with the year's first Death's-head Hawkmoth trapped overnight at the Obs, followed during the afternoon by the first Bill record of a Lesser Emperor dragonfly - like several other recent records of rare dragonflies at the Bill, it was found trapped in one of the Crown Estate Field mist-nets! © Jodie Henderson:
