27th April

With a low pressure area centred close by there was little prospect of either getting away with a dry day or expecting many nocturnal migrants to have been aloft in really unsettled conditions overnight. The easterly bias to the wind direction did at least hold out some promise for the seawatchers, but their disappointingly scant returns included nothing better than a trickle of Manx Shearwaters and commic terns, together with 4 Great Skuas and singles of Red-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver and Black Tern, through off the Bill and 4 Great Skuas and 3 Arctic Skuas passing Chesil; the Iceland Gull also remained at the Bill, whilst a Black Guillemot was an intriguing find close to one of the Portland Harbour breakwaters. The land struggled with both numbers and variety, with 4 Whimbrel, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 3 Whinchats, 2 Tree Pipits and a Sedge Warbler the best on offer around the Bill; elsewhere there was a Lesser Whitethroat at Reap Lane and a Redshank at Ferrybridge, where the White Wagtail also remained.




Little Tern, Whinchat and White Wagtail - Ferrybridge and Portland Bill, 27th April 2014 © Pete Saunders (Little Tern and White Wagtail) and Joe Stockwell Yet another birding blog (Whinchat)