22nd September

With no great overnight change in the weather there was something of a re-run of yesterday but with fewer new arrivals. A crack of dawn Yellow-browed Warbler at Culverwell didn't linger, whilst a Wryneck nearby was thought most likely to be the weekend individual relocating; the Black Guillemot also remained in Portland Harbour to provide a bit of unseasonable action there. On the ground the common migrant tally dropped to maybe a third of yesterday's total although there was still plenty about, with the 500 Meadow Pipits, 150 Chiffchaffs and 100 Blackcaps at the Bill ensuring that both the fields and scrub there were busy; there were few surprises amongst the rest of the grounded migrants, with a lone Firecrest at Avalanche Road and another interesting-looking Lesser Whitethroat trapped and ringed at the Obs about the best on offer. Visible passage continued apace, with hirundines and Meadow Pipits making up the vast majority of the totals at the Bill, where 3 Merlins, a Hobby and a Golden Plover were the pick of the variety overhead. Odds and ends through on the sea at the Bill included 40 Common Scoter, a Great Crested Grebe and a Brent Goose.

An unfavourable wind direction and further drop in the overnight temperature knocked back numbers in the moth-traps, with singles of Convolvulus Hawk-moth at the Obs and Delicate at Sweethill the best of a limited array of immigrants.



Chiffchaff and hirundines swarming around the Bill lighthouse - Portland Bill, 22nd and 20th September 2014 © Martin Cade (Chiffchaff) and Elaine Knight (hirundines)