Barred Warbler +

Mainly sunny, 20°, light SSW.

A reasonable day starting with a short sea-watch that produced an Arctic Skua, 2 Mediterranean Gull, c20 Kittiwake and 6 Balearic Shearwater.

At around 08:20 a Barred Warbler was caught and duly ringed, photographed and released. The bird of the trip so far.

During the sea-watch and later there was an overhead movement of birds leaving. From what I noted: 27 Yellow Wagtail, 11 Grey Wagtail, 6 Tree Pipit, 100’s of Meadow Pipit, 35 Siskin, 20+ Swallow and 2 House Martin.

Other species noted: Sparrowhawk, 20+ Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 4 Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat, 6 Wheatear, 5 Rock Pipit, Raven and Little Owl, etc.

(This is only my sightings and does not represent the full totals seen at Portland).

Dragonflies: Emperor, Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Heath. 

Moths: Convolvulus Hawkmoth and Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Barred Warbler 

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Cormorant

Rock Pipit

Wheatear

Common Whitethroat

Goldfinch

Sunrise this morning

Death's Head

Cloudy at first then sunny, 16°, light NNE.

Much the same start as yesterday:

10+ Yellow Wagtail, 6 Grey Wagtail, 5 Tree Pipit and 3 Siskin over moving south.

Then the day settled down to birding: 1 Nightingale, 1 Barred Warbler and a Turtle Dove were the pick of the bunch, at least for me.

20+ Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaff, 4 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 6 Wheatear and 2 Whinchat.

1 Grey Heron, 1 Golden Plover, 1 Greenshank and a Whimbrel.

A light but steady passage of Swallow and 4 Swift.

The sea was very quiet again except for an early evening Arctic Skua that flew west.

Dragonflies: Emperor and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown.

Moths: Death’s-head Hawk-moth, Jersey Tiger.

Other: Wasp Spider, Oak Bush Cricket, Southern Oak Bush Cricket.

Death's-head Hawkmoth

 Oak Bush Cricket

Jersey Tiger above & below

Wasp Spider

Whitethroat

Variety rather than numbers

Cloudy with a few sunny periods, 17°, light NNW.

The day dawned cloudy and still with very little migration evident, however it proved to be an active and interesting day with not many photos taken.

A few early migrants moved off with the usual species of 18 Yellow Wagtail, 9 Tree Pipit and 2 Grey Wagtail and later 3 Siskin.

A shout from Martin alerted us to an Ortolan Bunting over the Crown estate fields which then flew up to the Privet hedge.

3 of us went up there an inadvertently flushed the bird which then flew off to above Culverwell and has not been seen since, to my knowledge.

Anyway that over with the day settled down to some steady birding with one or two locals moaning about the lack of birds, however…………………………………:

2 Pied/White Wagtail, 5 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat, 3 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 20+ Willow Warbler, 10 Common Whitethroat, 7 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Barred Warbler, 1 Wryneck and 1 Nightingale.

Again a steady flow of Swallow through the day with several groups of House Martin, 3 Sand Martin and a Swift.

Also: 1 Peregrine, 1 Sparrowhawk and 5 Kestrel.

The sea was again very quiet with Gannet being the only species moving.

Mammals: A Bat species, possibly one of the Pipistrelles but appeared larger.

Dragonflies: Emperor, Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Holly Blue, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood, Wall Brown and Meadow Brown.

Other: Jersey Tiger, Convolvulus Hawk Moth, Brown Bush Cricket, Southern Oak Bush Cricket.

 Jersey Tiger (Loren)

 Emperor (Loren)

 Common Darter (Loren)

Bessie cat knapping on the bed of a vacant room!

A little quieter

Overcast, 16°, light to mod NNW.

An overcast and cooler day reflected by a lack of migrants.

Having said that day was made by a Barred Warbler found by John Lucas at Culverwell and a Turtle Dove that flew over and landed in the Crown Estate fields for a short time.

The sea was again exceptionally quiet with 2 Balearic Shearwater and 16 Common Scoter passing.

Just a few land migrants noted: A dawn movement of 10+ Yellow Wagtail, 14 Tree Pipit and a Grey Wagtail, a light but steady stream of Swallow with a few House Martin through the day, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear, 2 Blackcap, 4 Whitethroat and 10+ Willow Warbler.

Also seen: Sparrowhawk and a Grey Heron. A little excitement of a large raptor seen flying in off the sea only to turn out to be a Common Buzzard.

Butterflies: very few, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady.

Other insects: Brown Bush Cricket and Great Green Bush Cricket, Old Lady (moth) and a Convolvulus Hawk Moth.

Swallows feeding young

 Convolvulus Hawk Moth

 Old Lady

 Grasshopper Warbler

 Brown Bush Cricket

Great Green Bush Cricket