A scorching summer-like day with anticyclonic conditions seemingly now setting in for the foreseeable future. Maybe not surprisingly, the quantity of grounded migrants wasn't dissimilar to mid-summer, with precious little descending from the now really moonlit night sky; the one arrival of quality was a Yellow-browed Warbler - by the sound of events elsewhere it may prove to be the first of many - that spent the day in the Obs garden. There was a very thin spread of Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests everywhere but some typical mid-autumn migrants - there was, for instance, just 1 Wheatear on the list for the Bill area - were pretty well absent; singles of Mistle Thrush and Firecrest at the Bill and another Firecrest at Pennslyvania Castle were about as good as it got for less frequent migrants. Under the clear sky it was considerably busier overhead, with Swallows well into four figures and Meadow Pipits in the high three figures; Siskins again topped 100 over the Bill, where 5 Redpolls and a Merlin were amongst other more routine fare overhead. The only noteworthy report from the sea was of 7 Balearic Shearwaters through off the Bill.
Single Hummingbird Hawk-moths continued to pop up here and there but nocturnal moth immigrants still weren't at all numerous, with singles of Delicate and White-speck the best amongst small numbers of the regulars at the Obs.
Yellow-browed Warbler - Portland Bill, 25th September 2015 © Martin Cade
