9th March

With high pressure beginning to get well established there was little hope of a dawn fall but plenty of expectation of later arrivals and some seawatching. Having being disappointingly absent thus far, it certainly wasn't a surprise that the first 2 Wheatears - singles at both the Bill and Ferrybridge - put in an appearance, whilst other interest on the land came in the form of 7 Golden Plovers and a Redwing grounded at the Bill and a constant light trickle of northbound Meadow Pipits and alba wagtails everywhere; a Common Buzzard also looked to have arrived in/off at the Bill. Amongst a light passage of commoner gulls the sea also came up with 4 Sandwich Terns, 3 Curlew, 2 Red-throated Divers and a Great Northern Diver through off the Bill, 3 Great Crested Grebes settled offshore there and 2 Red-throated Divers, 2 Shelduck and a Pintail through off Chesil; at least 2 Iceland Gulls were again roaming around between Ferrybridge and Chesil Cove, and one of the Red-necked Grebes was still in Portland Harbour.
 
          
Red-necked Grebe - Portland Harbour, 9th March 2014 © Joe Stockwell Yet another birding blog