15th October

Yesterday was always going to be a hard act to follow but there was some disappointment that the late night rain accompanying the change to westerly weather didn't drop more in the way of new arrivals than the latest flush of Yellow-browed Warblers: the day's tally of the latter ended up on 10 widely spread between the Obs and Easton. Additionally, yesterday's Hen Harrier lingered on at the Bill, Ring Ouzels included 7 at West Weare and 3 at the Bill and new (?Siberian) Lesser Whitethroats were at the Bill and Wakeham. Commoner migrants were a relatively low-key feature: a good total of 125 Dunnocks in the Obs/hut fields area was particularly noteworthy and decent numbers of Chiffchaffs were encountered everywhere; among the less regulars singles of Black Redstart and Brambling were at the Bill.

A milder night with a southerly breeze for a while made precious little difference to the mothing, with the Obs immigrant tally consisting of just 15 Rusty-dot Pearl, 4 Rush Veneer, 3 Silver Y, 2 each of Diamond-back Moth and Delicate, and a single Scarce Bordered Straw.

One of the day's Yellow-browed Warblers at the Obs was pretty vocal at times: