No sign of either the Semipalmated Sandpiper or Long-billed Dowitcher today, with the dowitcher relocated at the north end of the estuary off Turf this evening.
Counts from the estuary included 420 Wigeon, 249 Curlew, 175 Redshank, 121 Teal, 107 Dark and six Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 43 Dunlin, 36 Ringed Plover, 18 Sandwich Tern, eight Greenshank, three Great Crested Grebe, three Sanderling and a Black-tailed Godwit.
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| Wheatear - Dave Jewell. One of three on site today |
The Semipalmated Sandpiper and Long-billed Dowitcher were again around The Bight over both tides. The sandpiper with around 120 mixed Dunlin and Ringed Plover, the dowitcher with 346 Redshank and seven Knot on Finger Point.
Semipalmated Sandpiper - Mark Bailey 
Semipalmated Sandpiper (with Ringed Plover) - Mark Bailey
Also around the estuary three Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 14 Greenshank, two Mediterranean Gull, five Turnstone, two Whimbrel and a Spotted Redshank, with a Kingfisher on the Main Pond.
The Warren's fourth Semipalmated Sandpiper, the first October record and the second this year, was found in The Bight on the dropping morning tide, reappearing on the evening for 15 minutes before presumably roosting unseen on Warren Point.
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| Semipalmated Sandpiper - Lee Collins |
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| Semipalmated Sandpiper - Dean Hall |
Another transatlantic vagrant, the long-staying Long-billed Dowitcher was again present with Redshank on both tides, dropping on to Finger Point in the evening.
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| Long-billed Dowitcher - Dean Hall |
Other records from the estuary included two immature Spoonbill with counts including 370 Wigeon, 294 Teal, 79 Dark and three Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 73 Ringed Plover, 64 Dunlin, 38 Shelduck, 21 Bar and two Black-tailed Godwit, 20 Greenshank, seven Knot, six adult Mediterranean Gull, five Eider, four Turnstone and a Whimbrel
Elsewhere a Great Northern Diver, five Sandwich and a Common Tern were offshore, four Sanderling and a Grey Plover were on the beach, a Kingfisher was on the Main Pond, six Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest and a Wheatear were on site with 35 House Martin, 19 Swallow, 10 Meadow Pipit, three Chaffinch, two Jackdaw and a Rook were overhead.
There was no sign of the Yellow-browed Warbler but a Pied Flycatcher in the Entrance Bushes mirrored one on the same date last year. There have only been two other October records, both on the 3rd in 1974 & 1980.
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| Pied Flycatcher - Jim Summers |
Elsewhere five Chiffchaff were on site, the Long-billed Dowitcher was again in an area with no general access, five Sandwich and a juvenile Common Tern were on Finger Point and a Buzzard flew low over Dead Dolphin Wood, mobbed by the resident Kestrel.
Other Wildlife: In the warm weather a total of nineteen Common Lizard were basking in a favoured area, mostly small immatures, suggesting a good breeding season on site. Also active in the warm weather, a “late” Early Mason Wasp Ancistrocerus nigricornis, several Common Darter, a few Migrant Hawker, a Comma and a Clouded Yellow.
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| Early Mason Wasp Ancistrocerus nigricornis - Alan Keatley |
Other records included the first attempted breeding of Rosemary Beetle, and on the beach, Black Marram Weevil Otiorhynchus atroapterus and hundreds of cockles deposited by the recent gale.
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| Rosemary Beetle - Alan Keatley |
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| Black Marram Weevil Otiorhynchus atroapterus - Alan Keatley |
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Cockles - Alan Keatley
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Early morning a few of yesterday's terns were seen leaving the estuary with a distant flock of 16 'commic' Tern south along with three Arctic and a Black Tern and single Pomarine and Arctic Skua.
There was no news on the dowitcher with counts from the estuary including 411 Wigeon, 62 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 20 Shelduck, 12 Cattle Egret, four Great Crested Grebe and a Pintail. Around The Bight, the six Eider were on Finger Point with waders numbers limited to 32 Ringed Plover, 31 Dunlin and two Bar-tailed Godwit amongst the Oystercatcher.
Elsewhere a Yellow-browed Warbler was in Dead Dolphin Wood, the first September record for the Warren, the earliest previous record was on 3rd October 1988. The only other migrants reported were six Chiffchaff and a Wheatear with 15 House Martin overhead.
Year list addition:
175: Yellow-browed Warbler
Two hours seawatching from 7.30am saw good numbers of Kittiwake heading south along with at least nine Arctic Skua, some lingering and eight skua sp, two of which were probably Pomarine, a Balearic Shearwater, four Arctic and a Common Tern.
A short afternoon watch showed little moving offshore as the rain arrived, but the conditions had driven many birds into the estuary. Counts were challenging with a constant movement of birds through The Bight, especially as conditions improved, over 50 Common and Sandwich Tern headed out to sea with an adult and six juvenile Arctic Tern, a flock of four and a single Arctic Skua and juvenile Black Tern and Little Gull.
Black Tern - Lee Collins 
Little & Black-headed Gull - Lee Collins 
Arctic Skua and Curlew - Lee Collins
With the exception of Oystercatcher, roosting waders were well dispersed with 56 Turnstone the only counts. A minimum 92 Great Black-backed Gull were present, a good recent count of although with constant movement, actual numbers were likely higher. In one count of 83 birds, 19 were juveniles indicating a successful breeding season.
Ringing News: Over 80 of the DCWRG ringed Oystercatcher were recorded today, an incredible return. These included several birds over 25 years, several new returns for the winter and enabled a couple of mystery birds to be resolved.
Unfortunately an increasing numbers of the individual colour-rings are becoming too worn to read in the field meaning they can no longer be unrecorded. The metal ring of one such bird was read today confirming the durability of the Oystercatcher previously known as 8Y, last recorded in 2020.
Away from Oystercatcher, recoveries included a 1cy Great Black-backed Gull from north France along with regular birds from Looe Island, Cornwall and Portland Harbour, Dorset; a Scandinavian ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Sandwich Tern from Cemlyn, north Wales.
The Long-billed Dowitcher was seen briefly in an area with no general access, in flight with a small flock of Redshank on the dropping evening tide. Also in the saltmarsh, 348 Curlew, six Knot, four Lapwing and single Snipe, Whimbrel and Cattle Egret.
Also in the estuary, 22 Sandwich Tern were on Bull Hill and 80 Ringed Plover, 74 Dunlin, 49 Dark and three Pale-bellied Brent Geese were in The Bight.
Elsewhere five Eider, three males and two females, were off Warren Point, 15 Sanderling were along the beach, 460 Black-headed Gull were feeding offshore and 16 Chiffchaff, two Blackcap and a Wheatear were on site.
Other Wildlife: Good numbers of hoverflies with ten species recorded. Amongst the many Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax were several Batman Myathropa florea, Large Tiger Helophilus trivittatus and Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus.
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| Batman Hoverfly Myathropa florea - Alan Keatley |
Other insects noted were a Red-legged Shieldbug, Field Digger Wasp Mellinus arvensis, White-zoned Furrow Bee Lasioglossum leucozomium and a Chalk Snailkiller Dichetophora obliterata.
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| Red-legged Shieldbug - Alan Keatley |
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| White-zoned Furrow Bee Lasioglossum leucozomium - Alan Keatley |
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| Chalk Snailkiller Dichetophora obliterata - Alan Keatley |
Butterflies on the wing included good numbers of Speckled Wood, with several Red Admiral, Small and a few Large White on the move. Michaelmas Daisy attached Common Blue, Meadow Brown and Small Copper.
Basking in the autumn sunshine were a few Common Darter and Migrant Hawker with numerous Ivy Bee busy around flowering Ivy.
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| Common Darter - Kevin Rylands |
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| Dasineura trifolii a clover gall midge New for the Recording Area - Kevin Rylands |
A Grey Squirrel was in Dead Dolphin Wood.
A juvenile Arctic Tern, a Great Northern Diver and two Mediterranean Gull were offshore with eight Chiffchaff and four Blackcap around the Entrance Bushes.
With no news on the Long-billed Dowitcher there are no plans for access this weekend.
Other Wildlife: Toothed Fireweed Senecio minimus was discovered by the Boathouse, a new plant for the Recording Area and Devon. A native of western Australia and New Zealand, it is well established on the Isles of Scilly but with only five other UK records.
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| Toothed Fireweed - Kevin Rylands |
The recent rain has brought out a range of fungi, with Blackening Waxcap in Greenland Lake and Velvet Shank and Tawny Grisette in the Entrance Bushes.
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| Velvet Shank Flammulina velutipes - Kevin Rylands |
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| Tawny Grisette Amanita fulva - Kevin Rylands |
The Long-billed Dowitcher remains in the estuary corner with Redshank, only visible from an area with no general access. Wildfowl continue to increase with 636 Teal and 270 Wigeon, with wader numbers largely similar to yesterday including 32 Turnstone, 17 Greenshank, seven Bar and two Black-tailed Godwit, six Knot, two Whimbrel and the Spotted Redshank.
Also present a flock of 15 Cattle Egret, which dropped into the Railway Saltmarsh around 2pm and then moved to fields at Eastdon, 17 Sandwich Tern, six Mediterranean Gull and two Kingfisher, both later at the Main Pond.
Seawatching for 40 minutes before 8am saw 39 Balearic Shearwater head south with a close juvenile Arctic Tern and a distant flock of c25 'commic' Tern. An hour's watch in the evening saw another 51 Balearic Shearwater head south with two skua sp, single Pomarine and Arctic Skua and a Great Northern Diver offshore.
Other records included a Buzzard low over the estuary flushing waders, three Jackdaw were foraging on the mudflats, 13 Chiffchaff, two Blackcap and two Wheatear were on site and a Grey Wagtail was overhead.
The Long-billed Dowitcher remained in the estuary corner, eventually showing to a small group on the dropping after long, wet wait. Only visible from an area with no general access.
Also in the estuary a long-staying (20 minutes) Green Sandpiper, 321 Wigeon, 310 Teal, 124 Ringed Plover, 67 Turnstone, a significant increase, 66 Dunlin, 18 Sandwich Tern, 14 Greenshank, six Knot, five Shelduck, two Kingfisher, two Mediterranean Gull, two Whimbrel and single Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe and Spotted Redshank. A probable Garganey was in the estuary during the heaviest spell of rain but could not be relocated.
Elsewhere the site's first Ortolan Bunting flew over calling before the rain, six Balearic Shearwater, two skua sp, an Arctic Skua and a Red-throated Diver were offshore, 20 Swallow and a Sand Martin were also overhead and a flock of 10 Wheatear were around the Bight.
Year list addition:
174: Ortolan Bunting
Other Wildlife: Despite the conditions new insects for the year are still being found, an Ivy Wasp-grabber Leopoldius signatus was stalking Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris in the willows by the Main Pond and a Dark Swordgrass, a migrant moth, was almost underfoot at the dowitcher twitch.
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| Ivy Wasp-grabber Leopoldius signatus - Alan Keatley |
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| Twin-spot Centurion Sargus bipunctatus - Alan Keatley |
More suiting the conditions, three ground beetle Oxypselaphus obscurus were under the same log in the Education Area.
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| Oxypselaphus obscurus - Alan Keatley |
