Ibis

Sunny, 20°, moderate SE.

Well, the calm didn’t last long with the wind backing from WSW to SE, gaining strength to force 5-6 and putting a bit of a damper on the day’s birding.

A patchy sea-watch to begin with and then hanging around the Obs area.

2 Arctic Skua, c20 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Manx Shearwater, 5 “Commic” Tern, 1 Arctic Tern, 3 Sandwich Tern, 20+ Kittiwake, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 2 Fulmar, 1 Oystercatcher the usual Gannet and 3 Auk sp.

Just 5 of us sea-watching, when one called Glossy Ibis. A flock of at least 14 was very close in and we could just see them above the parapet for around 20 seconds. Martin managed a quick photo before they disappeared from sight and subsequently not seen again.

The land was poor with only a single Willow Warbler noted.

VizMig: c20 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Grey Wagtail, c30 Swallow and 10 Sand Martin.

At around 18:30, Loren spotted a couple of Swift over the Obs. They spent approx. 10 minutes overhead and seemed reluctant to leave but eventually disappeared out over the sea.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

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

Moths: Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

Glossy Ibis pics courtesy of Martin Cade.

Portland: Day 2

Sunny spells, 18°, fresh W.

The day dawned with limited expectations, the sea was relatively quiet and overhead passage was fairly low.

At around 07:00 we started to see a small passage of Shearwaters and then by 07:30 it really kicked off.

The following are rough totals: c700 Great Shearwater (all within 30 minutes), in excess of 500 Manx Shearwater, c15 Balearic Shearwater and 4 Sooty Shearwater.

Plus, 3 Great Skua, 8 Arctic Skua, c50 Sandwich Tern, c20 Common/Arctic Tern, 4 Mediterranean Gull, 200+ Gannet, c30 Kittiwake and c20 Auk sp.

The sea movement petered out towards midday so attention focussed on land birds.

A Marsh Harrier, 3 Raven, a Little Owl, a Short-eared Owl (in, off the sea), a couple of Oystercatcher, 14 Grey Wagtail, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 15 Swallow, 2 House Martin, 5 Sand Martin, c40 Meadow Pipit, 1 Tree Pipit, 8 Wheatear, 3 Whinchat, 1 Stonechat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Common Whitethroat, several Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler and 1 Firecrest.

A small pod of Common Dolphin offshore and a couple of Blue-fin Tuna sightings.

Dragonflies: Emperor and Common Darter.

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

Sunrise

Firecrest

Convolvulus Hawk Moth

Marsh Harrier

Wheatear (above & below)

Raven

Little Owl

Painted Lady

Moths save the day

Sunny spells with some fog, 20°, light SW.

Portland.

The day started with a sea watch; however, the sea was relatively quiet and migrants on land were a bit thin on the ground so no big surprises there, but moths were the surprise of the day.

Sea: 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Common Scoter, 2 Sandwich Tern, 6 Balearic Shearwater, several Oystercatcher and reasonable numbers of Auks and Gannet plus several Shag and Cormorant.

Land: Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Wheatear, Grey Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Swallow, Siskin, Little Owl, Sparrowhawk and Buzzard.

Fish: several Bluefin Tuna feeding offshore.

Dragonflies: Common Darter.

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

Moths: The surprise moth of the day was an Echium Leaf Miner (Dialectica scalariella picked from the moth trap by Martin Cade and only the 2nd for Dorset, the 1st being found yesterday). A tiny moth (5mm) that needed a macro lens to photograph it. I do not have one but I know someone who does.

Other moths of note were a Blue Underwing, Red Underwing and a Heath Rustic.

Insects: Speckled Bush Cricket.

Echium Leaf Miner a very skittish moth courtesy Martin Cade

Blue Underwing or Clifden Nonpariel upperside and underside

Common Darter

Common Buzzard

Red Underwing

Southern Oak Bush Cricket

Speckled Wood

All moths were safely released at the end of the day.

Here we are again.

Visit to Portland Sep 2015

A week’s visit to Portland.

It does not sound like many but 80 species for this week on Portland and this was just for the bill area.

A summary of the most notable species of the week were:

Birds: Rose-coloured Starling, Wryneck, Osprey, Balearic Shearwater, Firecrest, Barred Warbler, Turtle Dove, Nightingale, Ortolan Bunting, Long-tailed Skua.

Insects: Death’s Head Hawkmoth, Convolvulus Hawkmoth, Garden Tiger, Jersey Tiger, Wasp Spider, Southern Oak Bush Cricket, Great Green Bush Cricket, The Cosmopolitan, Red-legged Spider Wasp, European Beewolf, Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Diamond-spot Pearl.

Dawn at Portland Sunday 6th Sep

Portland 3rd May

Sun and Showers, 13°, fresh WSW.

Arrived on Portland around 16:30, land migrants non-existent but a small sea passage saved the day.

Razorbills and Guillemots flying backwards and forwards from their breeding cliffs to feeding areas, several Shag also around. 

Species moving comprised: 2 Great Skua, 4 Pomarine Skua, 1 Arctic Skua, 50+ Manx Shearwater, 50+ Gannet with a few Fulmar and Kittiwake.

Just prior to leaving for Dorset today there were 3 Swift feeding over the village, also 2 House Martin and several Swallow.

 

Down by the Seaside

Citrine Wagtail, the finale!

Sunny, still windy, 14º, fresh westerly, back in Oxfordshire, overcast, 15º, light showers and again windy.

Final day on Portland and what a finale! Our first day there started with a rarity, Eastern Subalpine Warbler and our final day ended with another rarity a Citrine Wagtail and a lot of good birds in between.

Had a lie-in today and did not get up until 07:30, around 08:00 I sat and had some breakfast. A few hardy folk were down at the bill seawatching and calling up the odd Skua etc which were also being seen from the Obs.

I was halfway through my breakfast when the radio crackled with “Pom Skua” so telescopes were manned and all eyes on the sea for the Skua to hopefully appear around the bill.

There were only 7 of us at the Obs at that time and whilst watching for the Skua I heard a high pitched short call from outside, at this point I am racking my brains trying to remember what makes that call. Fortunately Martin and Joe (who were outside) were a lot quicker and I heard Joe say there is a Citrine Wag on the pond around 6 metres from us!

A silent rush to the door and the 7 of us were viewing a smart female Citrine Wagtail walking along the edge of the pond just off the patio.

Martin had his camera handy and was taking photos when it dawned on me that I also had a camera...........doh!

Grab camera................take photos..................but by this time the bird mainly had its back to me and was behind some plants but at least I got a few pics.

I thought I’d best let Loren know so I rushed to our room to let her know,  then rushed back, just got the camera on the bird again when it flew from the pond and headed north and to my knowledge has not been seen again.

The Lucky 7 of us at the Obs had good views of a cracking ♀ Citrine Wagtail, albeit briefly..................right place at the right time!

Not much else seen after that just a Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Spotted Flycatcher before we left.

A brief stop at Ferrybridge and just a couple of Little Tern and 3 Sandwich Tern seen.

Thanks to Martin, Joe and the Prof, also local birders and visitors for another enjoyable stay...........................see you in the autumn. (114 species seen).

 Citrine Wagtail (courtesy Martin Cade)

 My humble efforts!!!!!