Fieldfare still out at Lollingdon

Light to heavy rain, 16°, light ENE.

A Cuckoo at Cholsey Marsh this morning, also the usual warblers: Sedge, Reed, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Cetti’s, Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

A Black-headed Gull flew down river.

Lollingdon was fairly quiet, 3 Corn Bunting and 5 Yellowhammer in song and a Reed Bunting on the hill.

Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat and Blackcap also around and the lone Fieldfare still present.

A Sparrowhawk hunting in the garden and left empty taloned!

Portland day 9: A sea watch then home

Overcast, 10°, breezy ENE then back to overcast, 21°, light ESE.

We left a breezy, cool Portland today after a morning sea watch and arrived in a warm, humid Cholsey that looks as if we may have a few thunderstorms later.

The sea watch was relatively quiet this morning but lack of quantity was made up by quality.

1 Black-throated Diver, 3 Common Scoter, a few Manx Shearwater and Gannet, 2 Arctic Skua and 9 Pomarine Skua (incl a flock of 7).

Nothing to speak of on the land apart from singles of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

Overall not a bad week on Portland, the latter part of our stay lacked land migrants but was made bearable by the movement of sea birds. 114 species noted in total.

Thanks to all at the Obs for keeping us amused during quiet times.

2 Nuthatch on the garden feeders this evening and 2 Tawny Owl calling near the garden tonight.

A selection of pics by Loren from Lodmoor yesterday.

 Mallard, Tufted Duck & Mute Swan

 Tufted Duck

 Gadwall

 Kestrel

 Little Egret

 Linnet

Oystercatcher, Grey Plover & Shelduck

Pied Flycatcher: Cholsey

"Was having a pint with the family yesterday in the garden of the morning star pub about 5.30pm when a Pied Flycatcher landed on the wooden fence. It stayed for a minute or so before flying off over the house to the left of the pub. Unfortunately didn't have a camera with me but had a good view of the bird from about 20ft away."
Paul cooper

Portland day 8: a visit off Portland

Rain at first then sunny, 13°, breezy E to NE.

A poor day on Portland today with a stiff easterly breeze blowing, very few migrants even the Swallow passage was very minimal.

1 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, a Goldcrest and a Spotted Flycatcher in the Obs garden.

A Yellow Wagtail and a Redpoll over.

On the sea: 1 Whimbrel, 1 Little Egret, 3 Common Scoter, 2 Great Northern Diver, 4 Pomarine Skua, 2 Arctic Skua, 10+ “Commic” Tern and few Manx Shearwater and c100 Gannet.

In view of the lack of activity on Portland a trip to Lodmoor seemed a likely venue to add a few more species to the weekly total:

Several wader species present were some Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper, Grey Plover, Redshank, Dunlin and Ringed Plover along with several duck species i.e. Gadwall and Tufted Duck, several Little Egret and Common Tern.

The extensive reed beds held a good number of Reed Warbler, several Sedge Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler, a few Reed Bunting and Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Chiffchaff in the hedgerows.

Swallow, Sand Martin and Swift overhead.

Butterflies: Large White, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock.

Portland day 7: A bit of this and a bit of that

Rain at first then mainly sunny, 14°, breezy ESE.

Another disappointing day overall with little seen on land and sea.

A Black Redstart in the Obs garden early morning was an unexpected bird, then 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Willow Warbler a Chiffchaff and a Common Redstart.

Overhead were 2 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Yellowhammer, 1 Redpoll, 1 Siskin and a Sparrowhawk.

Swallow passage throughout the day was steady but minimal.

A brief sea watch on both the morning and evening produced: 3 Whimbrel, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Arctic Skua and 2 Bonxie as well as Gannets and Manx Shearwaters.

Ian Lewington carried on sea watching until quite late in the day and managed 2 Pomarine Skua to add while I was having dinner.

Dragonflies: Broad-bodied Chaser.

Butterflies: Green-veined White, Large White, Peacock, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood.

Pomarine Skua courtesy Ian Lewington

Kestrel over the common

Red Admiral courtesy Loren

Portland day 6: Its all at sea

Sunny with high thin cloud, 14°, light to breezy E to NE.

Another disappointing day on the land with virtually no migrants in: 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 4 Whitethroat and a Spotted Flycatcher.

Swallow passage started early at around 07:00 and continued most of the day but in small numbers, also a few House Martin in.

The sea however made up the bulk of the days birds: 22 Common Scoter, c200 Gannet, 35 Manx Shearwater, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Dunlin, 1 Sanderling, 50+ “Commic” Tern, 1 Sandwich Tern, 3 Black Tern, 3 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 3 Arctic Skua and 17 Pomarine Skua (incl of flock of 9 that flew from Chesil cove and passed the bill at c19:45, thanks to Martin Cade and Joe Stockwell for phoning through the info).

Dragonflies: Broad-bodied Chaser.

Butterflies: Large White, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Peacock and Speckled Wood.

Portland: The early bird

My alarm went off at the usual time this morning, 05:00, so I got up, a quick wash and then got ready for the day ahead.

I went out to the lounge in the Obs and noticed I was the first one up so I opened up the doors to the patio and put the kettle on for a cup of tea.

I thought it was a little dark but put that down to cloud cover that had come in and that I was still not fully awake.

Come 05:45 I started to wonder why none of the ringers were up to open the nets so I came back in and looked at one of the clocks and saw it was 04:45, quickly checked my phone which had a time of 05:45.

On checking further I realised my phone had picked up a signal from the continent and was telling me I was in France and it had picked up European time which is an hour ahead.

I had actually got up this morning at 04:00………………what a plonker!

Still did not see anything!

Got some Poms a bit later though, full report this evening.

Portland day 5: The sea wins again

Sunny again but with a brisk easterly wind, 12°.

The land side of birding was hard work today with little noted, a Tree Pipit overhead first thing then through the day, 1 Redpoll, a Sedge Warbler, a Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff and 3 “White” Wagtail.

Swallow passage began around 09:00 and continued through the day but in low numbers so around 250 to 300 birds and a Hobby flew in.

The sea fared somewhat better but tailed off around 10:30, the following noted: 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 30+ Common Scoter, 1 Common Gull, 1 Black-headed Gull, 50+ Manx Shearwater, 300+ Gannet (the majority being immature birds), c100 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Arctic Skua, 2 Pomarine Skua, c150 “Commic” Tern (Common or Arctic), 6 Sandwich Tern, 1 Little Tern, 9 Black Tern, 1 (pos 2) Roseate Tern.

Dragonflies: Broad-bodied Chaser.

Butterflies: Green-veined White, Large White and Speckled Wood.

Pied Wagtail at Chesil visitor centre courtesy Loren

Broad-bodied Chaser Portland Obs

 Green-veined White Chesil courtesy Loren

Loads of rubbish at Chesil beach car park (courtesy Loren)

Portland day 4: Good weather few birds

A sunny day, 14°, light S.

A beautiful day on Portland but with very few birds on the land and little better on the sea.

However; As there was very little happening on the land an early sea watch was on the cards.

5 Bonxie, 5 Great Northern Diver, 22 Common Scoter, 16 Bar-tailed Godwit, 13 Whimbrel, 8 Grey Plover, 4 Shelduck, 1 Little Gull and some very distant Terns, also unusually a male Hen Harrier flew east.

Hirundine passage started around 09:00 with a light trickle of birds through the day, c250 Swallow, 9 House Martin and 5 Swift. Most birds would pass over the island by the upper light and drop down to use the lea of the west cliffs and continue north.

The landward side produced 5 Wheatear, 1 Goldcrest, 6 Willow Warbler, 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 1 Yellow Wagtail and a Black Redstart.

Sparrowhawk, Peregrine and Kestrel also noted.

Dragonflies: Broad-bodied Chaser.

Butterflies: Large White, Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood.

Cholsey news: A Fieldfare still present out at Lollingdon. (Tony Williams).

 Black Redstart

Guillemot

The Cholsey Marsh Wood Warbler

All photos courtesy Roger Wyatt

Portland day 3: ITV visit

Sunny, 13°, breezy NE.

The day started off fairly quiet and an early morning visit from the ITV “country wise” to do a piece on the ringing activities at the observatory.

They spent most of the morning filming the ringer’s activities and talking to various birders at the Obs. The “Prof” being the star of the show with Martin overseeing and Joe Stockwell being filmed "birding".

Anyway back to what matters, the day started slow with 3 Yellow Wagtail over, a Short-eared Owl hunting the crown fields before flying up island, a small fall of Willow Warbler and Blackcap, a few Chiffchaff and Reed Warbler, a Sedge Warbler, a couple of Common Whitethroat, a Whinchat and a Goldcrest, also around 20 Wheatear.

A movement of Swallow started around 11:00 with 250+ over the next few hours and a few House Martin arriving with them.

The sea was very quiet today with 2 Great Northern Diver and 3 Whimbrel being the best of the bunch.

2 butterfly species today: Peacock and Green-veined White.

 Prof being interviewed

 A drone being used for overhead filming

A star is born (Joe Stockwell being filmed)

 Short-eared Owl disappearing in the distance.

 Above and below courtesy Loren

Wood Warbler: Cholsey

A Wood Warbler found today by Brian & Geoff Wyatt in Cholsey on the islands by the 4 Arches railway bridge. The first record for quite a few years.

Still present, about 100m south of Ferry Lane at 6.30pm. Not singing or calling, (Michael Pocock).

Portland day 2

Overcast then rain mid-afternoon then sunny, 10°, breezy SW.

A rather cold and breezy start to the day with a few migrants arriving early morning. 10+ Chiffchaff, 20+ Willow Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 6 Common Whitethroat, and 10+ Blackcap.

A Common Snipe flushed from the Crown fields and 2 Wheatear present and a couple more Wheatear at the bill.

Intermittent sea watches through the day produced, 8 Whimbrel, 1 Knot, 3 Pochard, 5 Arctic Skua, 1 Bonxie, 100+ Gannet, 100+ Manx Shearwater and 6 Common Scoter, also 2 Great Northern Diver flew over the Obs and Guillemot and Razorbill off the west cliffs.

A steady trickle of Swallow and a few House Martin through the day, 7 Common Swift and 1 Yellow Wagtail over.

The sun came out around 17:00 and a Spotted Flycatcher appeared along with a lot of activity from Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in the Obs garden.

Also Raven and Sparrowhawk around.

 Guillemot & Razorbill

 Gannet

 Fulmar

 Willow Warbler

 Dunnock

 Blackcap (f)

 Willow Warbler

 Blackcap (m)

Willow Warbler

Portland & Cholsey

Overcast, misty 10°, breezy SW.

By the time we arrived most of the land migrants had passed through so a brief sea watch produced an Arctic Skua, a couple of Common Scoter and Manx Shearwater.

The best bird of the day was a Grasshopper Warbler heard this morning along the brook that runs alongside Whitehead Meadow before we left for Portland.

Some news from the Eastender today: a Swift with several House Martin this evening over the garden and several Common Whitethroat along the Bunk line.

Also a few Orange Tip Butterfly.

Here we are again.