19th October

For the most part just scant rewards on a day when the constantly strengthening wind made for very difficult birding. The Red-breasted Flycatcher remained at the Obs where it was sufficiently elusive as to only get seen a couple of times all day, whilst a new Yellow-browed Warbler there was equally troublesome and was missed by most observers; elsewhere, 1 of the Yellow-browed Warblers remained at Avalanche Road and the Black Guillemot was still off Portland Castle. Although Linnets in particular were moving south overhead in decent numbers - estimated at close to 1000 an hour for a time at the Bill - and other visible migrants included 24 Golden Plovers over the Bill, there was little evidence in an upturn in numbers on the ground, where most expected migrants were in very short supply indeed. The strength of the wind did little for seawatching at the Bill where 3 Arctic Skuas and a Pomarine Skua were easily the best of a poor selection.

Moth immigration remained at a low ebb, with 24 Rusty-dot Pearl, 2 Olive-tree Pearl and singles of Diamond-back Moth and Delicate all that could be mustered from the Obs traps.

It says a lot about the quality of the day when at this stage of the autumn we haven't got a single decent photograph to illustrate the day's proceedings. We didn't do much better with our only sound recording from the day which, if nothing else, shows how difficult it is to record anything in trees when there's a near-gale blowing. This Yellow-browed Warbler at the Obs had surely just dropped in when we made this recording of it late in the morning: although invisible in a dense holm oak clump it called constantly for several minutes before suddenly shutting up and, as far as we know, never being heard to utter another sound!