Portland has had one or two fly-by Buff-breasted Sandpipers in the past but all of those have subsequently been found settled - this is the first that looks to have been solely a visible migrant that didn't stop © Joe Stockwell:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMDwcQwt_sF70PQht5nuQm5_5eCuyrOvTkgqZGSX7_ihNhqG6y2_wG0RUI_vhyE_NkOZtuQ80PDcje1Vi_di5gpkfx7v4ZW3wn-ZVv93flXN5RUjnaCG6vFZEkFh_Lz4PDeMqhyFuo-Y/s1600/bp_buff-breast_031017.jpg)
...as it was a morning when quite a few Golden Plovers passed through it's interesting to compare the appearances of these two potential confusion species © Joe Stockwell:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHtIh9EPyFW5kIb43DzmV7kflVWwyU64YwJNJ9cZNNrPkMWwz0NiR9mQa1vIcC8Bn4N-VLBUJfpJ_Fy44Fb5hc5AbFfon3F__f1__OnNu5gm9raa-D_2nY_Bm9_t9Ix00x4TXuLgitIQ/s1600/bp_GPlover_031017.jpg)
The Siberian Lesser Whitethroat looks likely to have provided a timely lesson in the potential for overcounting - even when only two birds are involved: it was first spotted on the Slopes where a well-timed/jammy photo captured the tail pattern very well © Joe Stockwell:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlkwnd0mEMNCqNK6HWK8kgFF9pVx_lkCr1VZyMOb_wqaaxcjdkjjO51gunWyDVb6oe9CvPTKqKj9I8cwZIZWXj7Wpcbx2mmdmW-TX54j4hie8yGOdHT-ZVujlkHLjFrAtDupNy0T_Ifc/s1600/bp_Blythii_031017.jpg)
...when one was trapped and ringed several hundred metres away at the Obs a couple of hours later it was certainly assumed that this was a second individual (genuine multiple occurrences have been quite frequent here in the past)...
...however, now we've had a closer look at the photos it's quite obvious that the fourth from outside tail feather on the right side on both birds is a shorter, presumably still growing replacement for a lost feather - this could just be a freaky coincidence but we wouldn't mind betting that they're one and the same bird! © Martin Cade:
The history of the Tree Sparrow at Portland is quite peculiar and rather reflects the change in status in Dorset as a whole: in the earliest days of the Obs the species was a notable scarcity county-wide, such that 22 at the Bill in 1957 was considered to be unprecedented; there followed a remarkable increase when breeding populations were established in many areas of the county and Portland totals reached the dizzy heights of hundreds a day (the all-time peak was 700 on 12th October 1970); the decline that followed was just as sudden, with only a handful of residual breeding colonies persisting beyond the mid-1980s; although Tree Sparrows are still just about annual visitors to the island, today's bird is only the fourth ringed at the Obs in the last 30 years © Keith Pritchard (flying) and Martin Cade (settled and in-hand):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdykkd2981LpJlPnk34cPXbVuEr_a6N35jCqz8oYRDa5wkLUpShtVkK3Hv8H99Y9vEkrtP5tiH6EH4hKX7XRBqneZi7qUjNjxeJnE4AalXRNSgy7aKMlF-pbBMpXivaQ6kJe4WCydGIyE/s1600/IMG_6868_DxO.jpg)
This morning's Yellow-browed Warbler was the second in succession to be mist-netted in the maize strips in the Crown Estate Field © Martin Cade:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJbLOFtfj07qwJzkIQCdqgeCiMM4msP3q-Bhat0EWLph0r7vX2k9ptI5dVqmuCb5XpEWHmJrUSW-VuEjwZXh5WDnNoqvThD_qzeqXkkqkBQUgfvxCsZ_hHeDlrhFsekpL-yZPpffiRg3A/s1600/bp_ybw_031017.jpg)
Finally, thanks to Dave Foot for passing us a lovely photo of one of Portland's local speciality micro-moths, Coast Spurge Bell Acroclita subsequana - Dave bred this specimen through from larvae found a few weeks ago on spurge on East Cliffs at the Bill. In Britain, subsequana is restricted to a few coastal sites between south Devon and Sussex; for a long time Portland was its sole Dorset site but it's also now known to occur on Purbeck per Sean Foote © Dave Foot:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidpK9UVgYDH8yE73rso36loS-ikhNDWS7hcznDZmqX8dqYnk506XWOSUuHWK_PiY3PMNIZ2IN8WU_3QMAMTGX2L7uNpUr9Pk0X2y5ML11hmMkTsvYpSTaXd-oseFpW9bgMvzut6fZafy0/s1600/mp_1160-Acroclita-subsequana%252C-Portland%252C-Dorset.-larva-%25286%2529.jpg)