  We study the magnetic flux carried by pores located outside active regions
with sunspots and investigate their possible contribution to the reversal of
the global magnetic field of the Sun. We find that they contain a total flux of
comparable amplitude to the total magnetic flux contained in polar caps. The
pores located at distances of 40--100~Mm from the closest active region have
systematically the correct sign to contribute to the polar cap reversal. These
pores can predominantly be found in bipolar magnetic regions. We propose that
during grand minima of solar activity, such a systematic polarity trend, akin
to a weak magnetic (Babcock-Leighton-like) source term could still be operating
but was missed by the contemporary observers due to the limited resolving power
of their telescopes.
