Portland: Day 6.

Sunny, 16°, light WNW.

Skipped a sea watch today as little appeared to be happening so concentrated more on the land.

Quite a good selection with a couple of reasonable figures.

Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, 2 Kestrel, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit over, 1 Whimbrel, 100+ Meadow Pipit, 2 Tree Pipit, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 White Wagtail, 3 Wheatear, 2 Whinchat, 8 Stonechat, a Common Redstart, 1 Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler, 17 Chiffchaff, 200+ Swallow, c40 House Martin and 26 Sand Martin.

Mammals: Red Fox & Grey Seal.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Small Blue, Small Copper, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood & Small Heath.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Good numbers of Blue-fin Tuna offshore.

Sunrise

Wheatear mid jump

Wheatear

Linnet

Stonechat (above & below)

Angle Shade Moth landed on my binoculars, Was not aware until I saw a fuzzy shape through them.

Day 5: A little quieter

Mainly cloudy, 10°, Light N.

A little chilly still.

Sea-watch: an on-off sea-watch today, 2 Shelduck, 1 Arctic Skua, 2 Arctic Tern, 2 Sandwich Tern, 30+ Whimbrel and 10 Bar-tailed Godwit etc.

Land: a Brambling (f), 16 Willow Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Common Whitethroat, a Garden Warbler, a Pied Flycatcher, 2 Blackcap, 30+ Swallow, 3 Sand Martin, 2 House Martin and a high flying Hen Harrier in-off the sea.

A rather feisty Starling

Day 4: Rain stopped play

Cloudy then rain, 8°, light NNE.

Day started reasonably well then rain stopped play around 13:00.

Sea-watch: 67 Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Knot, 2 Arctic Skua, 9 Whimbrel, 10 Common Scoter, 3 Red-throated Diver, 1 Great Northern Diver, numbers of Kittiwake, Guillemot, Razorbill, Gannet and several Sandwich Tern and Oystercatcher.

Land: Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Common Redstart, Cuckoo, Swallow, Sand Martin and House Martin.

Razorbill

Swallow

Guillemot

Great Blackback Gull

Guillemot and a Razorbill

Oystercatcher

Day 3: Improving

Mainly sunny, 12°, breezy NE.

A protracted sea-watch produced, 60+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Whimbrel, 2 Arctic Skua, 16 Common Scoter, 2 Sandwich Tern and a single Great Northern Diver.

The landward sightings became a little more diverse today with 5 Wheatear, a Stonechat, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Common Redstart, several Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap, 2 Yellow Wagtail, a Cuckoo, a Ring Ouzel, 40+ Swallow, 4 House Martin and a single Sand Martin.

Butterflies: a Small White, Green-veined White, Holly Blue and Peacock.

Pied Flycatcher (f)

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