30th January

It seems as though we're getting into the late winter doldrums, with visitors thinning out and the birding stuck in a samey groove. A good many of the regulars featured on today's list, with singles of Short-eared Owl, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Firecrest at the Bill, 3 Common Scoter and 2 Red-throated Divers through on the sea there, a Black Redstart at Weston and 6 Black-necked Grebes, 3 Slavonian Grebes and 2 Great Northern Divers in Portland Harbour.


Black Redstart - Weston, 30th January 2016 © Duncan Walbridge
 
And further to our mention a couple of days ago of Great Black-backed Gull movements from northern France, today we received notification from Gilles Le Guillou of a further sighting of a bird we'd logged at the Bill on 15th November last year:
 

...Gilles has collated a nice series of sightings of this bird as it's criss-crossed the Channel during the last six years: