Cholsey Hill

Mainly cloudy, 3°, light NNW.

Marsh Harrier and c50 Golden Plover, Cholsey Hill.

2 Mistle Thrush in garden trees.

Bunk

Overcast with light cloud, 23°, breezy NNW.

Bunk area:

Marsh Harrier seen over Cholsey Hill, Gull numbers on the increase with c50 Black-headed Gull, c30 Lesser Blackback Gull and a couple of Herring Gull.

5 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, a Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, 1 pos 2 Spotted Flycatcher, a Yellow Wagtail, 4 Mistle Thrush, 15 Swallow, 8 House Martin, 3 Sand Martin, 20+ Swift and a Sparrowhawk.

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel and a Brown Hawker.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Redstart

Sunny spells then clouding up, 25°, light WNW.

Lollingdon: The first Common Redstart of the autumn on the hill today, plus a Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, 2-3 Common Whitethroat and Blackcap. Nearby a Lesser Whitethroat, several more Chiffchaff, 5+ Yellowhammer and 3 Grey Heron.

A few Swift moving overhead.

The Marsh Harrier seen on Cholsey Hill again yesterday. Per GW. And a young Chiffchaff frequenting the garden over the last few days.

Mammals: Brown Hare, 2-3 Hedgehog and several Common Pipistrelle after dark in garden over the last week.

Dragonflies: Banded and Beautiful Demoiselle and a Southern Hawker.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Moths: A Hummingbird Hawkmoth in garden yesterday.

Cooler

Sunny spells, 23°, breezy SW.

Still fairly quiet out there, although a fair number of Swallow, c50 that appeared to be passing through and c20 House Martin, 6 Swift and a single Sand Martin.

Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Yellowhammer, 100+ Starling, c50 Linnet, 2 Herring Gull, 2 Black-headed Gull, 5 Lesser Blackback Gull, a Grey Heron etc.

A few Swift moving through yesterday and a Sparrowhawk in garden today.

Marsh Harrier seen on Cholsey Hill yesterday. Per MP.  

Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damsel and Black-tailed Skimmer.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

Cholsey Hill

Mainly sunny, 22°, breezy NW.

A female Marsh Harrier seen quartering Cholsey hill this afternoon. Per RB.

Bunk area pretty quiet again, no change from last week.

Marsh Harrier

Sunny, 22°, light to breezy NE.

Marsh Harrier over Lollingdon Hill flying north west. Per Alan Dawson.

Portland: Day 10.

Sunny, 18°, light NE.

An on/off sea watch today and a little less walking.

5 Manx Shearwater, 2 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Arctic Skua, 100+ Kittiwake, 15 Knot, 3 Wigeon, 10+ Auk, many Gannet etc.

2 Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, 2 Sparrowhawk, a Short-eared Owl, a Little Owl, 300+ Swallow, 100+ House Martin, 30+ Sand Martin, 25 Yellow Wagtail, 12 Grey Wagtail, 19 “alba” Wagtail, c200 Meadow Pipit, 3 Tree Pipit, 20+ Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Whinchat, 3 Stonechat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher and 1 Pied Flycatcher, etc.

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker & Common Darter.

Butterflies: fewer numbers of both Whites, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and Small Heath.

Many Blue-fin Tuna still feeding offshore.

Sunrise

Portland: Day 9.

A cloudy start then clearing, 18°, light SW.

A cloudy and damp start to the day looked very promising but it soon fizzled out to be followed by glorious sunshine for the rest of the day which made for hard work in finding birds.

However, an improvement on the last few days.

The long staying Marsh Harrier, a Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Little Owl, 8 Yellow Wagtail, 6 Grey Wagtail, 60+ Meadow Pipit, 6 Tree Pipit, 2 Skylark, c35 Swallow, 5 House Martin, 4 Sand Martin, 2 Whinchat, 5 Stonechat, a Sedge Warbler, a Common Whitethroat, 6 Blackcap, 3 Willow Warbler, c25 Chiffchaff, a Pied Flycatcher and a Spotted Flycatcher.

A brief look at the sea when someone called: 3 Common Scoter but no prolonged sea watch.

Approx. 17:00 we noticed hundreds of Gull feeding high in the air just off the east cliffs. Flying Ants were the prey and swarming in 1000’s. Most of the Gulls noted were Mediterranean Gull (150+).

Dragonflies: Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

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

A couple of interesting Moths: Gold Spot and Beautiful Gothic.

Plus, a Sexton Beetle and a Black Slip Wasp.

All captive insects safely released.

some photos courtesy Loren.

Pied Flycatcher

Chiffchaff

Raven

Starlings on the lighthouse

Little Owl

Beautiful Gothic

Black Slip Wasp

Portland: Day 7.

Sunny, 18°, light SW.

A very protracted sea watch today and hard work on the land.

1 Arctic Skua and 9 Common Scoter.

A Cattle Egret in, off the sea, a Marsh Harrier, Little Owl, 64 Swallow, 4 House Martin, 2 Sand Martin, 8 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Grey Wagtail, 100+ Meadow Pipit, 2 Tree Pipit, 2 Wheatear, 3 Whinchat, 12 Stonechat, 12 Chiffchaff and a single Willow Warbler.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

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

Sunrise

Painted Lady

Whinchat (above & below)

Stonechat

Portland Bill

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.

Portland: Day 4.

Mainly sunny, 17°, blustery WNW.

A more sedate day with birds difficult to find given the windy conditions.

Did not do much of a sea watch so only a few bits. 7 Manx Shearwater, 2 Balearic Shearwater, 4 Sandwich Tern, c20 Kittiwake, 1 Knot, etc.

Land: Long staying Marsh Harrier again, 2 Common Buzzard, 2 Raven, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 3 Tree Pipit, c30 Meadow Pipit, 6 Stonechat, 3 Whinchat and c20 Swallow.

Dragonflies: Emperor, Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Speckled Wood.

Whinchat

Stonechat (above & below)

A "flock" of Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Emperor

Portland: Day 3

Overcast and rain showers, 16°, blustery W.

A windy day started quietly with not a lot going on. The sea was slow and the windy conditions were suppressing bird movement.

The Marsh Harrier appeared again over the crown estate fields and at around 09:00 another Harrier turned up, all but too briefly but some good photos were taken of it.

The bird then returned about twice more before disappearing for good.

A lot of debate then ensued around it’s ID and was eventually ID’d as a 2nd calendar year male Pallid Harrier.

The day continued windy with some rain later so birding was a little tricky.

The sea produced 35 Manx Shearwater, 3 Balearic Shearwater, 4 Arctic Skua, a Shelduck, c30 Sandwich Tern, c20 Common/Arctic Tern, 20+ Kittiwake, a Common Scoter, etc.

Time spent waiting to see if the Pallid returned was wasted so looking for land migrants was limited with just a couple of Blackcap and Chiffchaff, a few Wheatear and 20+ Swallow.

Mammals: 3-5 Grey Seal were seen on the east side of the bill.

Dragonflies: several Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Small White, 5 Painted Lady, 6 Red Admiral and a number of Speckled Wood.

Pallid Harrier courtesy Martin Cade

Grey Seals. Possibly 2 males vying for the attention of a female.

Marsh Harrier

Marsh Harrier

Sunny spells, 24°, light SW.

Richard Broughton was lucky enough to find a female Marsh Harrier over the Bunk/Green Lane area today.

150+ Linnet, Willow Warbler and 30+ Yellow Wagtail overhead.  

Also had 2 Hobby over Church Road yesterday.

Photo taken on phone so not the greatest quality but there you go.

Marsh Harrier

Cloudy at first the a few sunny spells, 18°, light W.

A busy hill today with close on 400 Hirundines passing thru in 2.5 hours. approx 50/50 Swallow & House Martin, 3 Swift, 2 Raven and 5 Yellow Wagtail also in the mix.

Nearby, 30+ Linnet, 12 Yellowhammer, several Chiffchaff, a Common Whitethroat and a Grey Wagtail.

Alan along the Bunk line: Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff, Common Redstart, Wheatear and Common Whitethroat.

And to top the lot a Marsh Harrier seen out at Lollingdon mid-afternoon. Per Andy King.

Mammals: Brown Hare and Weasel.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

Butterflies: several Large White & Small White, a Holly Blue, a Peacock and 3 Speckled Wood.

Marsh Harrier courtesy Andy King

Speckled Wood