Back on the Hill.

Sunny spells, 15°, fresh W.

A bit of a blowy day and back on the hill today.

A ♀ Whinchat feeding along the lower fence line on the hill and keeping low down out of the wind most of the time, also a ♀ Wheatear on the grassy slope keeping to the lee of the Hawthorn bushes again trying to feed and shelter from the wind.

Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Green Woodpecker, Grey Heron, Kestrel, Buzzard and Red Kite also seen.

The pair of Tufted Duck still on the pond and a pair of Swallow in residence nearby. Also 6 Swallow flew north over the hill.

Mammals: Brown Hare, Hedgehog (in garden).

Dragonflies: 2 Large Red Damselfly.

Butterflies: A few around in sheltered spots, Large White, Brimstone, Orange Tip, Green-veined White, Small Tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood.

Portland: Last day.

Foggy, 12°, light SW.

Final day on Portland for this spring leaving just after 13:00. Thanks to the Obs “staff” Martin, Glen and the Prof and all the visitors both local and residential who kept us amused and entertained, great company. Cheers.

Not easy birding with the weather however a ♀ Redstart found in the Obs field and 3 Stonechat in the area and a Yellow Wagtail over. A couple of Chiffchaff in the garden and a Spotted Flycatcher.

1 Arctic Skua seen during a break in the fog and a small number of Common Scoter and an Oystercatcher heard calling through the mist.

A Little Egret seen on village pond just outside of Salisbury as we drove through this afternoon.

 

                  Another pic of the Little Owl from earlier in the week.

Tawny Pipit & Golden Oriole on Portland

Misty at first then overcast then sunny after 16:00, 16°, light S.

A search of the Obs fields around 06:00 found 2 Wheatear this morning and a second search a little later found little else so I was resigned to not seeing the pipit.

Therefore a sea watch was in order as the mist had started to lift. A single Pomarine Skua and a Great Northern Diver was noted when someone came in to say the Pipit was present and back in the Obs field.

So the sea watch was abandoned for a short walk to the Obs fields and within a short time the Tawny Pipit was seen…………………phew!

Another couple of Wheatear and a Whinchat also seen and a ♂ Peregrine flew overhead.

The day was rather slow with a flyover Yellow Wagtail, a Sedge Warbler, a Reed Warbler, several Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, a Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Common Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler and 1 Spotted Flycatcher.

Hirundine passage was rather sporadic with only a few hundred Swallow noted, also 2 Swift.

At around 15:30 we had a call to say there was a Golden Oriole behind the fire station at the Grove so a quick drive up to where it had been seen and after a short walk we managed to get in position near some trees where it had been seen. We waited and watched and before too long a Golden Oriole flew out followed by a second, third and fourth and they all moved off south. I managed to see 3 of them before they disappeared from view.

Dragonflies: Broad-bodied Chaser.

Butterflies: Small White, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, Wall Brown and a Holly Blue.

 Golden Oriole (courtsey Martin Cade)

 Golden Oriole (courtesy Martin King)

Tawn Pipit (courtesy Martin Cade)

 Wall Brown

7-spot Ladybird (courtesy Loren)

A small group viewing the Tawny Pipit, am in this pic. (courtesy Glen Maddison)

Hits and Misses

Sunny, 13°, fresh SSW.

Another cool day with very little seen especially land birds. The star bird of the day was a Tawny Pipit discovered on the crown estate fields by Martin. Unfortunately I missed seeing this bird as it disappeared shortly after being discovered. Only to be relocated again about 500m away and I successfully missed it again and then it was relocated again back at the initial site and……………………….missed again. Maybe tomorrow!!!

Swallows were very evident again with a good passage throughout most of the day, a few House Martin also noted.

A sea watch in the morning proved worthwhile with a flock of 9 Pomarine Skua plus 1 singleton passing through. In addition 4 Great Skua, 5 Arctic Skua, 1 Great Northern Diver and 1 Puffin.

Passerines: 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 4 Wheatear and 2 Bullfinch.

Butterflies: Green-veined White, Peacock and Wall.

Photos courtesy © Martin Cade

 Pomarine Skuas

Tawny Pipit

Another quiet day

An overcast day with some light rain showers early p.m., 12°, light to moderate SE to S.

A disappointing day with virtually no movement on the sea and very little on the land, Hirundine movement was the only visible migration of any significance.

A sea watch this morning turned up 14 Whimbrel, 8 Bar-tailed Godwit, 28 Common Scoter, 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Oystercatcher, and 1 Puffin.

Hirundine passage was quite heavy today especially along the West Cliffs with several thousand Swallow, 60+ House Martin and several hundred Sand Martin, only 2 Swift.

Land birds again were minimal, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler,2 Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 1 Yellow Wagtail over, 2 Wheatear, 2 Bullfinch and Little Owl.

A brief spell of sunshine bought out a dragonfly, a Broad-bodied Chaser and a recently emerged Large Red Damselfly.

Poms

Started sunny then cloud moved in around 14:00, wind abated throughout the day down to approx. 12 knots SW this evening. Max of 14°.

Very little on land still but the sea very good this morning with a total 28 Pomarine Skua (saw 24), with at least 2 dark phase birds. This included one flock of 15 that went past the bill, all before 09:00.

Other sea birds were: 1 Arctic Skua, 3 Red-throated Diver, 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Common Scoter, 1 Oystercatcher and far fewer Manx Shearwater.

Hirundines more prominent today with several hundred Swallow in off the sea, 5 House Martin and a single Sand Martin.

Other birds noted: 4 Raven, 3 Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Common Redstart, 2 Wheatear, 2 Bullfinch and a Sparrowhawk.

Redstart & Wheatear

Weymouth sea front with the training ship from yesterday anchored in the bay. (courtesy Loren)

More of the same!

Weather was very much the same as yesterday with a strong SW blowing and heavy seas so a non-birding excursion off island was in order to Lulworth Cove and Durdle Dor.

A sea watch early morning produced, 1 Pomarine Skua, 1 Arctic Skua and 2 Great Skua, 3 Whimbrel and 1 Great Northern Diver.

Gannet, Manx Shearwater, Fulmar, Kittiwake and both Razorbill and Guillemot noted.

Swallows started arriving around 09:00 and continued throughout the day and a single House Martin seen.

Only other passerines noted was a Whitethroat in song at Portland and a Grey Wagtail at Lulworth.

A tall ship seeking the calm of Weymouth Bay

 A  series of pics by Loren of Lulworth Cove and a Grey Wagtail

Wind ruled the day

A very windy day (SW) gusting up to 40 knots, thin high cloud with sunshine, 11° and a very lumpy sea.

Land birds were hard to find today given the high winds blowing off the sea, however 3 Spotted Flycatcher in the garden, a Blackcap, a Willow Warbler, a Garden Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, and 2 Bullfinch, elsewhere 1 Wheatear, 1 Sparrowhawk.

Some very intrepid Swallows were coming in through the day and 1 House Martin noted, 11 Common Swift also seen.

The sea produced the best birds of the day with the star bird being a Long-tailed Skua which all of us at the Obs missed and only the sea watchers at the bill saw it.

The rest of the best (that I saw) were: 1 Pomarine Skua, 3 Great Skua, 2 Arctic Skua, 3 Whimbrel, 15 Common Scoter, 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-throated Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 100 + Gannet and hundreds of Manx Shearwater that were passing at approximately 300 per hour during the evening sea watch.

Only a few shots of some distant Manx Shearwater.

Portland 4th May

Variable weather, a clear night with a full moon and a sunny start, cloud building through the day and rain by 17:00, light to fresh SW then turning SE, mean temp around 14°.

Needless to say, clear skies and very minimal visible migration on both land and sea.

However the following noted today: 10+ Wheatear, a trickle of Swallow through c100, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Little Owl, 1 Bullfinch, Whimbrel (heard), Oystercatcher (heard), 1 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Willow Warbler, 1 Swift and a Raven.

5 Common Scoter, 2 Arctic Skua, 2 Great Skua, 1 Pomarine Skua, 5 “comic” Tern, 2 Sandwich Tern.

Plus other resident species.

Butterflies: Large White, Speckled Wood.

(Loren)