1st October

The most lacklustre of starts to October with subdued passage and dampened enthusiasm for fieldwork in the prevailing breezy, dreary and at times persistently dizzly conditions. Morsels of interest on the land included 4 Firecrests still about at the Obs, singles of Short-eared Owl and Corn Bunting overhead at the Bill, a Hobby over Blacknor, a Pied Flycatcher still at Portland Castle and 4 Little Stints and a Yellow-legged Gull at Ferrybridge, but there were no quantities of new arrivals on the ground and visible passage was a shadow of that logged yesterday. The sea was well-watched but came up with little more than 2 Arctic Skuas and singles of Great Northern Diver and Great Skua through off the Bill.

The immigrant moth situation hardly changed, with 8 Delicates and a White-speck the best on offer from the Obs traps.