17th October

Poor reward again today with Yellow-browed Warblers providing most of what little interest there was in a blustery westerly. Five Yellow-browed Warblers were scattered about between the Bill and Easton, whilst amongst the back-ups the Hen Harrier reappeared at the Bill, 5 Ring Ouzels were spread around the centre of the island and singles of Merlin, Black Redstart and Firecrest were at the Bill. Routine passage was subdued, with a thin spread of expected grounded migrants and only very limited visible passage; a total of 475 grounded Great Black-backed Gulls was noteworthy at the Bill but once again there was next to no sea passage there.

A lone White-speck at the Obs was the only worthwhile immigrant from overnight mothing.

We get the impression that there aren't as many Long-tailed Tits about the centre of the island as there often are at this time of year - this one was at Bumpers Lane this afternoon (© Joe Stockwell) but we haven't encountered any flocks yet this autumn during our meandering around the Easton/Grove area: