Not a lot

Sunny spells, 19°, fresh SSW.

VisMig was non-existent today with virtually nothing smaller than a Starling moving due to the constant wind.

On land very few birds found: 4 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher and a single Swallow over late evening.

Sea-watch: 4 Arctic Skua, 15 Balearic Shearwater, 4 Manx Shearwater, 12+ Kittiwake, 4 Sandwich Tern, 3 Fulmar, 4 Cormorant and many Gannet.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown.

Moths: several Hummingbird Hawkmoth around the Obs garden.

Wind, Rain & Sun

Rain & Shine, 17°, strong WSW.

Squally rain showers and blustery winds put paid to any serious birding today but this is Portland and there were a few things noted.

A Pied Flycatcher appeared in one of the only two nets deployed today, ringed and released.

A Fircrest that was very elusive in the front garden, a Common Whitethroat nearby, a flyover Grey Wagtail and a few Willow Warbler was about it.

The sea fared no better with just a couple of Balearic Shearwater amongst the quantity of Gannet passing through.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White and Speckled Wood.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Convolvulus Hawkmoth, Striped Hawkmoth etc.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth courtesy Loren.

Common Darter

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Pied Flycatcher

Speckled Wood

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Sea Birds

Overcast and rain showers, 18°. Fresh SW.

A very windy and sometimes very wet day to be returning home. Yet before setting off there was time for a 2.5-hour sea-watch and that proved very fruitful.

A numbers of watchers went to various spots around Portland Bill but a few (including myself) stayed and viewed from the Observatory.

A heavy sea and at times poor visibility made viewing a challenge at times but persistence paid off.

1 Great Shearwater, 2 Cory’s Shearwater, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 1 Manx Shearwater, 100+ Balearic Shearwater, 2 Arctic Skua, 1 Great Skua, 20+ Kittiwake, 1 Fulmar, 1 Auk sp and plenty of Gannet. No photos!

The sea rules the day

Overcast, 18°, fresh SW.

The high winds put paid to any birding on the land today so a sea-watch was order of the day.

The 4 hours between 07:00 and 11:00 were the most productive with, 34 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Cory’s Shearwater, 1 Manx Shearwater, 9 Arctic Skua, 1 Great Skua, 1 Long-tailed Skua, 21+ Kittiwake and numerous Gannet. A continued watch after 11:00 turned up very little.

All I heard in the garden was 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Blackcap plus a couple of Meadow Pipit, Raven and Little Owl nearby and saw a few Swallow milling around overhead considering whether to fly south. Fortunately, they turned back inland.

Butterflies: Red Admiral & Speckled Wood.

The view from the Observatory patio today where sea-watching takes place.

Portland & Abbotsbury

Cloudy at first then sunny, 18°, fresh WSW.

A sea-watch at Portland then a visit to Abbotsbury and a stop off at Ferrybridge on the return.

A breezy night with an electric storm at around 04:00, some rain then cloudy to start.

A 2 hour sea-watch produced a good number of Shearwaters and Skuas even though I missed the pick of the bunch of a Long-tailed Skua and Sooty Shearwater but I managed a few.

1 Great Skua, 8 Arctic Skua, c35 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Manx Shearwater, 20+ Kittiwake and 3 Common Scoter.

Overhead migration was minimal and only a few Chiffchaff and Blackcap were around the Obs garden.

Abbotsbury, apart from the feral birds the following noted: Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Little Egret, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Shelduck, Lapwing, Kingfisher, Swallow, Wheatear, Chiffchaff and Cetti’s Warbler.

As for others, a Whooper Swan, 2+ Wigeon, Bar-headed Goose, several Cinnamon Teal etc.

Ferrybridge: good numbers of Ringed Plover and Dunlin, a Bar-tailed Godwit, Little Stint, Knot and 2 Ruff.

Butterflies: Red Admiral & Speckled Wood.

Little Egret (above & below)

Kingfisher

Bar-tailed Godwit

Little Grebe

Lapwing

Fox Moth caterpillar (courtesy Loren)

Whooper Swan

Whooper Swan courtesy Loren

Whiplash Rove Beetle courtesy Loren

Disruptive weather

Thunder, heavy to light rain, 19°, breezy SSE.

A day disrupted by the weather with a lot of rain, murky conditions, poor visibility and a strong breeze.

Very little noted on the land so a sea-watch was on the cards from inside the obs.

One of the first was a single Cory’s Shearwater followed over the course of the day on and off by c30 Balearic Shearwater, 3 Common Scoter, 1 Teal and a Sandwich Tern.

Not a lot for several hours watching.

Overhead: singles of Lapwing and Grey Heron and 2 Swallow.

Land: 8 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, 2 Common Whitethroat and 2 Wheatear.

Fish: Bluefin Tuna.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Chiffchaff on the hunt

Expectations not met

Overcast with some light rain showers, 20°, breezy NNE.

After some pre-dawn rain expectations were high for a fall of migrants but it did not materialise. As grounded migrants were hard to find. The sea-watch and overhead migration was rather protracted and petered out by midday.

10+ Chiffchaff, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Sedge Warbler, 3 Wheatear, 1 Stonechat and 1 Whinchat.

Overhead: 30+ Meadow Pipit, 1 Tree Pipit, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Siskin, c100 Swallow, 30+ House Martin, 30+ Sand Martin and the surprise of the morning with an Osprey flying out to sea.

Sea-watch: c60 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Arctic Skua, 7 Sandwich Tern, 2 Common Scoter,  a Dunlin and a Ringed Plover.

Fish: Bluefin Tuna.

Dragonflies: 1 Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood.

Moths: 2 more Convolvulus Hawkmoth and a Channel Island Pug to name a few.

If you don't get any photos you can always guarantee the Little Owl will pose.

Sunrise this morning

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Channel Island Pug

Back to quiet

Hazy sunshine, 20°, breezy NE.

VizMig not a patch on yesterday with depleted numbers on all fronts.

A sea-watch produced 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Common Scoter and 1 Mediterranean Gull as well as the usual Gannet etc.

Overhead, 5 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Tree Pipit, c30 Meadow Pipit, 8 Siskin, 20+ Swallow and 2 House Martin.

Grounded migrants consisted of 1 Goldcrest, 6 Chiffchaff, 3 Common Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 1 Whinchat, 1 Stonechat and 4 Wheatear. Plus ,a Grey Heron that has been around for a couple of days.

A couple of Oystercatcher heard and a Ringed Plover overhead late afternoon.

Mammals: Red Fox.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

Moths: Convolvulus Hawkmoth.

Wheatear

Blackcap

Goldcrest

Convolvulus Hawkmoth (m&f)

Sunrise this morning

Lunch

Thin cloud and sunny, 14°, light WSW.

Portland  

A seawatch today produced 1 Balearic Shearwater along with 20+ Manx Shearwater and an unusual (for this time of year) passage of 200+ Common Scoter plus the usual.

4000+ Gulls still feeding off the Bill, mainly Herring Gull so there must still be a quantity of fish out there for them.

On land a rather sparse passage of birds consisting of a Whimbrel, 2 Willow Warbler, 4+ Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, a Reed Warbler, 25+ Swallow and a House Martin.

A Corn Bunting and a Peregrine also noted.

Just after posting this a Little Owl was calling just outside our window at the Obs.  

Herring Gull taking lunch, courtesy Loren

Linnet bathing

Razorbill

Gannets

Greater Blackback Gull

Rock Pipit

Portland Mix

Sunny, 20°, light NW.

The day dawned bright and sunny with most of yesterday’s migrants that had departed and an initial flurry of diurnal migrants on their way out.

Around 12 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Grey Wagtail, 5 Tree Pipit and 6 Siskin flew out over the Obs.

Other species noted today were: 10+ Willow Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 3 Pied Flycatcher, 5 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Common Whitethroat, 10+ Wheatear, 1 Whinchat, 1 Common Redstart, 5 Stonechat, 1 Wryneck, 1 Firecrest, Little Owl, a Sparrowhawk, a Peregrine Falcon, c100 Swallow, c40 House Martin, 2 Swift and a Ringed Plover.

The sea today was exceptionally quite with a few Gannet, a Grey Heron and a Balearic Shearwater both flew west.

Dragonflies: Emperor and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Common Blue, Chalk-hill Blue, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown.

Moths: to many to mention here, the pick is, Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Convolvulus Hawkmoth, Silver-Y, Oak Eggar and a rare migrant, a Diamond-spot Pearl.

A few photos from today including the most photographed hand in the UK?

 Pied Flycatcher

 Blackcap

 Tree Pipit

 Convolvulus Hawkmoth

 Diamond-spot Pearl

Firecrest

 Oak Eggar (courtesy Loren)

 Willow Warbler

 Emperor

Painted Lady

Rain then a few migrants

Heavy to light rain most of the morning becoming clearer but overcast, 16°, light NNW.

The sea was relatively quiet today, a steady stream of Gannet passing through with some feeding offshore, 40+ Manx Shearwater, 3 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Common Scoter, 6 Gadwall, 1 Cormorant and the odd Fulmar and Shag. Also 3 Oystercatcher and 3 Dunlin.

After the rain ceased a few land migrants and residents began to surface with 2 Raven, 1 Swift, 30+ Wheatear, 20+ Willow Warbler, a Grasshopper Warbler, a Blackcap, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Meadow Pipit, 4 Common Redstart, a Black Redstart, 6 Stonechat, 3 Pied Flycatcher and 10+ Spotted Flycatcher.

Little Owls calling after dark.

1 possibly 2 Wryneck still present (not seen).

Butterflies: Few noted, Red Admiral and a few Large White.

Other insects were: Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Southern Oak Bush Cricket and a European Beewolf (Philanthus triangulum).