Lollingdon

Sunny, 18°, light WNW.

Lollingdon: Lots of Hirundines moving through, c60 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Wheatear, 2 Grey Wagtail, many Pied Wagtail, many Meadow Pipit, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and Kingfisher.

Dragonflies: Emperor, Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker, Brown Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Red Admiral, Comma and Painted Lady.

Per Alan Dawson.

Wheatear

Yellow Wagtail

Portland: Day 5.

Sunny spells and heavy showers, 15°, light to breezy N.

A bit of a slow day today with little to find. A brief sea watch produced 5 Manx Shearwater, 3 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Arctic Skua, 4 Common Scoter, a couple of Sandwich Tern and Common/Arctic Tern.

Overhead migration was a little thin, 5 Yellow Wagtail, 6 Grey Wagtail, 3 Tree Pipit, c50 Meadow Pipit and approx. 30 Swallow.

A Pied Flycatcher caught and ringed at the Obs, plus a Sedge Warbler seen, a Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 10+ Chiffchaff and 4 Willow Warbler.

An afternoon visit to Ferrybridge: a Little Egret, a Mediterranean Gull, 5-6 Knot, a Bar-tailed Godwit, c30 Dunlin, c30 Ringed Plover, a Sanderling and 5 Oystercatcher.

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

Insects: Speckled Bush Cricket and Great Green Bush Cricket.

Several Blue-fin Tuna noted feeding offshore.

Sunrise

Pied Flycatcher

Small Tortoiseshell

Starling sheltering from the rain

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

Cholsey

Overcast, 17°, breezy W.

Alan out today.

A lot of Hirundine movement this morning.

Several Meadow Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, a Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Raven and a Hobby over but little else.

Dragonflies: Willow Emerald.

Butterflies: Red Admiral & Comma.

Willow Emerald courtesy Alan

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

Portland: Day 1.

Showers, 18°, blustery W.

Arrived at Portland a bit late in the day to do any birding. Just a few Chiffchaff in the garden, a Sparrowhawk and a Grey Wagtail over and 6 Gannet flying east over the sea.

22:15: Tree Pipit and Common Sandpiper heard calling overhead after dark.

Whinchats

Showers,17°, breezy W.

3 Whinchat found by Alan out at Lollingdon.

Singing in the rain

Heavy rain and Thunder, 17°, breezy NE.

Little noted today due to the inclement weather.

Both Swallow and House Martin passage noted during drier spells but not a lot else in the air.

Alan found a Wheatear along the Bunk area this morning.

A few Blackcap and Chiffchaff and a single Common Whitethroat this afternoon. One Chiffchaff in full song during the rain.

Also Sparrowhawk, Yellowhammer etc.

Negative for Dragonflies and Butterflies.

Juv Yellowhammer courtesy Alan

Box Moth (dark form) courtesy Alan

Out & About

Cloudy with a few light showers, 21°, light S.

Little to speak of out at Lollingdon today other than a Kingfisher and both Swallow and House Martin moving through.

Bunk area: Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Willow Warbler, several Chiffchaff, a Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 2 Yellow Wagtail and approx. 200 Gulls along with many Corvids and 14 Red Kite following a plough and up to 80 Swallow moving through.

Silly Bridge area: Yellow Wagtail, c60 Swallow, a Swift and 2 Raven overhead.

Butterflies: numbers of Small White, the occasional Large White,2 Red Admiral and singles of Peacock, Comma and Small Heath.

AD & PC.

Wren

Common Buzzard

Lollingdon

Sunny spells, 24°, light SW.

Lollingdon, 3 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat & a Painted Lady. Per Alan.

A little livelier

Sunny periods, 20°, light W.

A slow start with little initially seen along the Bunk area today. Around 20 minutes in I started to note a passage of Hirundines and over the next few hours counted over 200 birds. Majority being Swallow and the rest House Martin.

Alan also noted a passage of Hirundine over Westfield Road plus a juv Peregrine Falcon.

A Whinchat also found and seen briefly before being spooked by a worker on the railway and I was unable to relocate the bird.

Alan relocated the Whinchat approx. 2 hours later.

Plus: 2 juv Hobby, 2 Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Common Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 10+ Chiffchaff, 5 Yellowhammer, a Raven, 300+ Starling etc.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large and Small White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and a Small Tortoiseshell in the garden.

Whinchat courtesy Alan

Yellowhammer

Still pretty quiet

Sunny periods, 25°, light SSW.

Still pretty quiet out there with visits to both Lollingdon and Bunk areas today.

Common Redstart, 3 Common Whitethroat, several Blackcap and Chiffchaff, Yellow Wagtail, 1, pos 2 Hobby, 2 Raven, a Common Sandpiper and the odd Swallow.

Both Swallow and House Martin still visiting nest sites in Church Road.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: Southern Hawker, Migrant Hawker and Common Darter.

Butterflies: Large and Small White, Common Blue, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Small Heath.

AD & PC.

Common Sandpiper courtesy Alan

Common Blue

Nuthatch

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.

A smattering of migrants

Sunny spells, 20°, breezy WSW.

Alan out at Lollingdon and Cholsey Downs today: 3 Spotted Flycatcher, Nuthatch, Bullfinch, Kingfisher, Stonechat and Whinchat etc.

I covered the Bunk area: 60+ Swallow, 20-30 House Martin, 5 Blackcap, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Common Whitethroat, 10+ Chiffchaff, a Raven, 8 Pied Wagtail, 3 Yellowhammer, 40+ Linnet, 4 Mistle Thrush, etc.

Tawny Owl in garden @ 21:40.  

Dragonflies: Common Blue Damsel and Southern Hawker.

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

Whinchat courtesy Alan.

Long-tailed Tit