Several Hummingbird Hawk-moths were about by day but the overnight immigrant moth catch was very poor, with a single White-speck the only oddity at the Obs.
Pied Wagtail - Southwell, 8th October 2015 © Duncan Walbridge
...this rather boldly marked wagtail was seen briefly at long range at the Bill during the morning where the apparently wholly white wing panel and strong white edges to the tertials had attracted attention but few other features were seen before it flew off; it was found again during the afternoon in a horse paddock at Southwell where this and other photos revealing the presence of, for example, grey rear flanks and a dark line on the side of the neck served to confirm that it was just an extreme Pied Wagtail rather than something rarer like an Amur Wagtail.
Until today we hadn't gleaned much in the way of results from Nick Hopper's last stay with us, largely because it's now taking a lot longer to go through the recordings as the nights are getting longer and busier for birds, problem calls are proving difficult to sort out...and Nick's got to earn a living in his spare time. The first of a three night session at the end of last week (1st/2nd October) proved to be interesting with two oddities in terms of nocturnal recordings: singles of migrating
Goldcrest and Dunnock; other birds included 19 Song Thrushes, 17 Robins, 4 Meadow Pipits and singles of Lapwing, Common
Snipe, Sandwich Tern and Short-eared Owl: