23rd October

More about than yesterday but maybe not as much as might have been hoped after a calm, overcast dawn and a freshening southerly through the day. Yesterday's Pennsylvania Castle area Yellow-browed Warbler lingered on and provided the day's only scarcity interest, with 7 Short-eared Owls at the Bill and another 2 over Portland Harbour, and 2 Firecrests and a Merlin at the Bill among the more noteworthy of the rest of the day's tally. A steady little arrival of Goldcrests saw a good 50 pass through at the Bill but most other passage was fairly subdued, with nothing else in quantity on the ground and no great numbers overhead or on the sea; some of the best of the other totals came from a vis mig watch at Ferrybridge, where 290 alba wagtails, 283 Linnets, 132 Goldfinches and 68 Meadow Pipits made up the bulk of the numbers. The sea has been the poor relation for some time so signs of passage picking up ever so slightly were welcome, with 31 Common Scoter, 20 Black-headed Gulls and singles of Red-throated Diver and Great Northern Diver through off the Bill.