29th October

Whilst far from busy on the ground, today's amelioration in the weather brought forth a huge improvement over the meagre offerings of the last fortnight that, coupled with plenty more passage overhead and a few happenings on the sea, resulted in an enjoyable migration day. All the numbers were overhead, with 32700 Wood Pigeons, 580 Jackdaws, 550 Stock Doves, 480 Starlings, 360 Goldfinches, 230 Linnets, 200 Chaffinches, 140 Meadow Pipits, 80 Skylarks, 70 Pied Wagtails, 20 Greenfinches, 13 Redwings, 10 Reed Buntings, 8 Bramblings, 3 Swallows and few other ones and twos through at the Bill. The flurry on the ground included 40 Stonechats, 25 each of Blackcap and Chiffchaff, and singles of Siberian Chiffchaff, Yellow-browed Warbler and Bullfinch at the Bill, where 2 Dartford Warblers and singles of Water Rail, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Cetti's Warbler and Snow Bunting were all still in residence; the Ring Ouzel was also still about at the Verne Moat and a Black Redstart was at Blacknor. Two settled Grey Phalaropes off East Cliffs were the best from the sea at the Bill, where 28 Common Scoter, 20 Teal and a Great Northern Diver also passed by.

Pigeons are much maligned but such are their numbers at this time of year that they provide one of the few migration spectacles that impinges on the consciousness of the general public - some folk put two and two together and work out what they must be but each year we field a host of enquiries from curious bystanders who seem genuinely awed by the event and are keen to learn what's afoot © Martin Cade:

The wheeling, noisy flocks of Jackdaws were also quite a spectacle again today © Martin Cade: 

In conditions that were distinctly more inviting than those on offer in recent days at Chesil Cove, the two Grey Phalaropes close in off East Cliffs at the Bill drew a steady trickle of admirers © Martin King:

The blink-and-you-missed-it Siberian Chiffchaff in the Crown Estate Field was the most active of migrants - it was as much as we could do to keep up with it on foot as it skipped from one bit of cover to the next and was soon lost disappearing up the valley towards Wallsend © Martin Cade:

This morning's ?putative Yellow-browed Warbler was one of those curiosities that you struggle for a minute to get your head around. We'd deployed the recorder on the Obs patio before we went out to open the CEF mist-nets and much later in the morning when reviewing the recording to check on another mystery call that had been heard came across what sounded like a pretty perfect single call from a close Yellow-browed Warbler recorded shortly after sunrise. It hadn't been heard by anyone who was about at the time, in fact nobody was even certain that anyone would have even been on the patio at that moment - perhaps folk were just indoors making a coffee. Could it have been a freakishly spot-on rendition of a Yellow-browed Warbler call by the Robin that's clearly audible in the vicinity? To us it sounds too good not to have been a Yellow-browed Warbler that presumably then left soon afterwards without ever being seen - and we're pretty certain that if, say, a single call like this had been heard in dense cover by a competent observer without the bird ever been seen it'd be logged as a Yellow-browed Warbler every time.