Garden tick

The last couple of days have been work days but I managed to get a garden birding session in this morning which was interesting, migrant list HERE, with highlights including the first Blackwit for the garden (now on 112 for the lodge list HERE) , an amazing 4 Firecrests, a Blackcap, 6 Chiffchaff, an increase in Blackbirds and Song Thrush and a bit of vis-mig. 

Also had a male Tawny Owl calling/singing last night when I got back from London at 11pm. Now on 184 for the Peninsula year list. 

I'm back out to Bulgaria from tomorrow and westerly winds are predicted for the next week so pretty excited about that. 

Firecrest (above and below) 

Great Spotted Woodpecker- three around today. Presumably migrants as they have been pretty elusive in recent weeks. 

Garden Blackwit 

Roe Deer in the field opposite 

Whooper Swans

It was a clear and calm morning with a light northwest breeze with a late morning high tide so I headed over to East Side for just after dawn. There was quite a bit of vis-mig going on, with birds moving in a westerly direction over the harbour including 211 Siskin, 7 Redpoll, 8 Reed Bunting, 35 Pied Wagtail, 28 Skylark, 126 Linnet, 24 Chaffinch, 9 Barn Swallow and 185 Meadow Pipits. 

The highlight of the morning was Les finding 2 adult Whooper Swans out in the middle of the harbour which presumably must have flown in or hauled out of a gulley as I seemingly walked past them. Only the third or so record in the last decade for the Peninsula so a local rarity.  There was a regional movement of them today further north so these two presumably are overshoots. A Peninsula tick for me so now on 201 HERE and 183 for the year HERE. 

Waterfowl numbers continue to swell with over 150 Wigeon and 120 Teal with at least 15 Pintail and 7 Shelducks and wader numbers are also increasing with 65 Oystercatcher, 45 Grey Plover, 30 Curlew, 80 Ringed Plover, 90+ Dunlin, my first autumn flock of Golden Plover with 34 circling, 80 Lapwing, 40 Redshank, 23 Blackwit, one Barwit, 4 Knot, a Spot Red and 2 Greenshank with two Curlew Sandpipers remaining in with the pre-roost waders and a single Turnstone. In the afternoon I went over to west side and added 2 Avocet and a Whimbrel to the wader day list (15 species today). 

There were a couple of Wheatear on the spit, good numbers of Chiffchaff and 4 Rock Pipit along the shore (including a colour ringed bird). A juv Peregrine was out on the mud and there were 2-3 Marsh Harriers aorund too. In the afternoon I had a Coal Tit at Mill Lane Pond. 

Full list from this morning HERE with 81 species of over 2200 individuals and an additional 6 species in the afternoon on the west side HERE, so 87 species today. 

It was the first mild calm night in a while so I put both moth traps out- still getting new for years with Mallow and Brindled Green. Also had a nice Vestal and a few Turnips and White-points. Mostly Lunar Underwings and Large Yellow Underwings still. There were also a few butterflies around today including a Clouded Yellow and Small Whites and Red Admirals. 

Whooper Swans

Curlew Sands, Dunlin and Ringed Plover

Juv Bar-tailed Godwit- the only one in the harbour today

Curlew- cracking birds 

Colour-ringed Rock Pipit- will try and track this down

Juv/first-winter Peregrine

Mallow

Brindled Green

A nice Vestal

Acleris ferrugana/notana

Sallow- a more heavily marked variant. 

Weekend round up

It's been a stormy weekend with Storm Amy (Ex-Humberto) moving to the north and bringing a strong westerly airflow. I tried a bit of seawatching on Friday afternoon but not much, just a couple of Common Scoters and a few Auks continuing the theme of late autumn. The other guys had a couple of Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters yesterday morning and a couple of Arctic Skuas today but overall - just a lot of empty wind. 

It was basically too wet and windy for anything much yesterday but today the wind had calmed down a bit and there was a bit of vis-mig over the garden HERE including a garden record of 65 Siskin and a few other migrants. 

This afternoon I did a quick check of a few wader hotspots including Mill Lane Marsh, Ferry and Snowhill Marsh (trying to use up the credit on my annual pass). A couple of Green Sandpiper on Ferry and 5 Greenshank were the highlights HERE. There's more Shoveler around with birds now on Ferry in addition to Mill Lane Marsh and I also four Shelduck on Ferry on Friday afternoon (the first in months that I've seen there).  

The moth trap has been very quiet but still getting a few late autumn NFYs including Beaded Chestnut and Yellow-line Quaker. Now on 551 for the year and 621 all time. 

Greenshanks at Snowhill (above and below). Up to 9 recently. 

Green Sandpiper on Ferry- the new landscaping is nearly finished and plenty of water birds are being attracted

Increasingly wintery scenes out in Chichester Harbour near East Head with Brents and increasing numbers of Redshanks and Blackwits

Beaded Chestnut (above) and Yellow-line Quaker (below). Must be running out of possible new addtions for this year. Can't remember seeing any Flame Brocades this year so far which might still be on the cards. 

I took advantage of the windy conditions by getting some work done in the garden, picked the pumpkins and the last of the peas and got the centre bed weeded and also started collecting seeds from the sunflowers and peas for next year. 

Corvo Kick (in the teeth)

I knew it would be dangerous doing a family/work trip in late September but I couldn't get out of it and I still can't as my brother Steve is finishing off business in Malta and won't be back until mid-next week to take over running the tree and garden business so I'm still grounded in the matrix until then. Meanwhile Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda have been making their way along the east coast of the US causing a lot of migration displacement into the Atlantic. e.g. have a look at this checklist from a vessel off Massachusetts HERE and there has also been a decent arrival of American migrants onto Bermuda too. Birds are also reaching Corvo (despite the lack of direct hits with the storms) with the 3rd Prothonotary Warbler for the WP (all records on Corvo) found on 27th September and still present at least until yesterday and a Cape May Warbler has been found today too. Supporting cast include a nice selection of more expected American vagrants. There's a few Azores ticks I need out across the islands at the moment including the Great-tailed Grackle and Snowy Egret on Sao Miguel, Black-necked Grebe, Gull-billed Tern and Baird's Sandpiper (recently) on Terceira and Prothonotary and Cape May Warbler and Cackling Goose on Corvo.

From the looks of the weather forecast the best conditions will have passed by the time I can escape here so it's looks like I've blown this opportunity. The weather is actually beginning to look good in Bulgaria with a period of westerlies and southerlies starting mid-week so I will keep an eye on things for when my cage door opens and I can start 'chasing the hare'.  

For a flavour of what's occurring out on Corvo here's yesterday's log by Adrian Jordi from the Corvo Facebook page HERE below:

October 2, 2025
No major new discoveries were made today, except perhaps for a Common Yellowthroat seen in the tamarisks along the coastal path. While the meadows and small woods were mostly shrouded in fog, the weather was better in the lower areas. For many birders, the highlight of the day — besides the long-staying rarities — was the fish dinner at Izzy Burger.

Reservoir Slopes

Cackling Goose 2, also seen in flight over the village (Ole Krome and others)
Northern Harrier 1, still on the island (Pekka Kyllönen and others)
American Golden Plover 1 (Ruben Coelho)
Lapwing 1 (Ruben Coelho)
Lapland Bunting 1, heard in the thick fog (Markku Santamaa and others)

Cape Verdean Farm

Bobolink 1, the very elusive bird was briefly seen in the morning (PAC)

Fojo

Black-and-white Warbler 1, still around (Henk Schut)

Tamarisks along Coastal Path

Common Yellowthroat 1, possibly the bird found nearby last week (Ole Krome, Peter Meyrahn)

Lower Da Ponte

American Redstart 1, still there and very vocal (Pedro Nicolau and others)

Da Ponte Bridge

Red-eyed Vireo 1 (PAC)

Prothonotary Wood (Small Coniferous wood above da Ponte)

Prothonotary Warbler 1, perched for 15 minutes on the same branch! (Miguel Berkemeier and others)
Red-eyed Vireo 1 (Pedro Nicolau and others)

Doctor’s House – Black Beach

Great Blue Heron 1 (Ole Krome, Peter Meyrahn)

Pico

Red-eyed Vireo 1 (Christoph Haag)

Back in the game

After two days of catching up with work I was free to do a day in the field today. I teamed up with Marc and we headed to East Head HERE and this afternoon I did the local circuit HERE. Highlights at East Head and Snowhill Marsh included over 100 Brent Geese, 2 Spoonbill, 9 Greenshank, Firecrest, a late Lesser Whitethroat and good numbers of Chiffchaffs and Goldcrest with 32 and 17 respectively. Highlights of the afternoon session included 2 Curlew Sandpiper at Church Norton, 2 Green Sand on Ferry, 3 Marsh Harrier, 10 Stonechat and 1 Whinchat and the incredible sight of 90+ Cattle Egret coming into roost on the other side of the harbour at Owl Copse. 

I got in a garden watch yesterday morning HERE and on the continuing later autumn theme I had the first flock of Lapwings going over and there was a bit of vis-mig with Siskins, Pied Wagtails, Yellow Wagtails and Mipits.

I got the moth trap out yesterday night and there wasn't much- only 13 species of about 40 individuals during a rather cool night. 

Returning Brents over East Head

First-winter Spoonbills

Whinchat

Chiffchaff- pretty much everywhere today. We only had 5 Barn Swallows today and what with the large numbers around during September now behind us , it's all rather late autumnal out there.

The moth trap dominated by Lunar Underwings (so variable) is another sign of the times

Black Rustic- another classic later autumn  moth