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 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

Day 9: a good one

Mainly cloudy, 7°, fresh NE.

Best day so far with a reasonable fall of migrants.

Sea-watch: an on and off one today with a Pomarine Skua, 3 Arctic Skua, c80 Common/Arctic Tern, a few Sandwich Tern, several Manx Shearwater, a Fulmar and the usual Gannet, Shag, Cormorant and Auks plus the 1000 strong, feeding, Gull flock off the Bill.

Land: a Redpoll, 3 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler, 3 Grasshopper Warbler, 10 Common Whitethroat, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 18 Willow Warbler, 9 Chiffchaff, 3 Common Redstart, 3 Pied Flycatcher, 2 Whinchat, 2 Stonechat, 102 Wheatear, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 80+ Swallow, 14 House Martin, 6 Sand Martin and 4 Swift.

Mammals: Grey Seal.

Chiffchaff

Reed Warbler

Pied Flycatcher

Wheatear

Redstart

Wheatear

Common Whitethroat

Grey Seal

Gannet diving for fish

Final day with a LTS

Sunny, 18°, light NNW.

A beautiful dawn and sunny morning on our last day at Portland leaving around 13:00.

Another early movement of 18 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 5 Tree Pipit 60+ Siskin.

Someone was actually sea watching today and approx. 08:00 he called a Long-tailed Skua moving west. A few of us managed a distant view as it then disappeared around the bill. Another distant Skua noted that was probably a Bonxie.

In between packing etc. we managed 3 Blackcap, 4 Common Whitethroat, a Reed Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Spotted Flycatcher and 2 Wheatear.

Mammals: 2 North Atlantic Grey Seal.

Dragonflies: Emperor and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Brimstone (a scarce butterfly on Portland), Large White, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Meadow Brown.

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Convolvulus Hawkmoth.

A good week on Portland with a lot of good birds, good insects and good company. Thanks to Martin and Glen. Cheers

 (courtesy Loren)

forgotten the name of this fly?