Desperate, but not serious

In the spirit of desperation, I did whizz round the patch this morning before work, in the hope that those scarce migrants had been marooned by incessant showers. In fact, there are still lots of birds around - picked up 20+ Willow Warblers, and 3 Common Chiffchaffs, etc. A Spotted Flycatcher on wires above the Mill was only the third I've seen here (after 2 together on Cran Hill, September 2004), and there were 2 Stonechats on the bracken by the cliff steps. 2 Golden Plovers went south (another species I only get on migration here), but star billing goes to another local scarcity - a Kingfisher on the Elsick Burn. My second patch record, the first was flushed from the willows at the cliff sides one September dawn. The previous one was probably a genuine migrant, today's more likely to be some sort of post-juvenile dispersal (??) Good though.