20th August
The excellent start to the autumn continued with another bright day and some more quality migrants. The morning kicked off in style with a fleeting Golden Oriole at Holland House that flew straight out of the sycamore canopy and was not seen again. This is only the eighth record of the species here, and the first since 2005. All the previous birds have been in spring.
The day's other star bird was an Ortolan Bunting found at Garso in the afternoon. Although a regularly occurring visitor in the 1990s, Ortolans have been much less frequent in recent.years.
The day's other star bird was an Ortolan Bunting found at Garso in the afternoon. Although a regularly occurring visitor in the 1990s, Ortolans have been much less frequent in recent.years.
Ortolan Bunting
A lot of the other migrants seen on census were probably birds from earlier days, but counts came to 29 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, 3 Garden Warblers, 5 Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Barred Warblers, 5 Whinchats, 1 Black Redstart, 1 Pied Flycatcher and a Wryneck. A couple of Sand Martins and 5 Swifts were seen, and a Wood Sandpiper and 9 Common Sandpipers remained among a good variety of waders.
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