23rd March

Passage seems to have been really set back by the cold snaps this month, with remarkably few new arrivals in evidence today. A lone Wheatear was the only long-distance migrant logged at the Bill where further minor interest came in the form of 2 Short-eared Owls, 2 lingering Firecrests and 5 Long-tailed Tits on the land and 19 Common Scoter, 3 Red-throated Divers, 2 Manx Shearwaters and a Sandwich Tern through on the sea; elsewhere, a Grey Heron flew north over Blacknor and 8 Black-necked Grebes and a Common Scoter were still in Portland Harbour.