Whilst the extensive shrub cover along the dunes is excellent for breeding warblers in the spring, it can prove to be extremely problematic when looking for less common migrants and vagrants from the east in the autumn. On 6^th October, a possible olive-backed pipit was heard to fly over with another on the 8^th. The call is similar to that of the European tree pipit and can be hard to differentiate even with a clear recording. Also, on the 8^th a single yellow-browed warbler was at Brickyard Lane (BL). The 9^th, brought an immature red-backed shrike to the dunes at Sea View and the 13^th, brief views of a red-breasted flycatcher at BL.

During November, a dusky warbler was briefly seen along the outer dunes, again at BL. This is a very skulking warbler, typically found by call, but a visiting birding couple  spent several hours, knowing exactly where the bird was in the buckthorn, before it briefly showed itself again.

On 11^th, 2 Siberian chiffchaffs were at Crook Bank area, where one was caught and ringed. Two more were recorded on 11^th and 20^th at BL and just north. The only other scarce warbler was a Pallas’s warbler north of Churchill Lane on the 14^th and probably the same bird at BL on 15^th.

Olive-backed pipit, yellow-browed, dusky, Pallas’s warblers and Siberian Chiffchaff are all species that are to be found breeding in Asiatic Russia and China and typically wintering south of this vast range from Arabia to India and South-east Asia. However, increasing numbers of yellow-browed warblers now regularly occurs in the autumn in Europe/UK and it is assumed that they have established a small wintering population somewhere in SW Europe. Siberian chiffchaffs likewise are wintering in SW Europe, with a few birds to be found in SW England at effluent treatment plants, where there is an abundant supply of insects.