31th May

On a damp, foggy day the lingering Rosy Starling remained at the Bill throughout but commoner migrants were only very thinly spread, with 5 Reed Warblers, 4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Wheatears, a Blackcap and a Spotted Flycatcher the only offerings at the Bill; elsewhere, a Hobby passed through at Reap Lane and a Nuthatch that dropped in briefly at a private garden at Weston was a major island rarity.

There's hardly a more characteristic sound of late May at Portland than the incessant chatter of a Reed Warbler from seemingly uncharacteristic arboreal habitat; we recorded this one a few days ago in the Obs garden but could just as easily have recorded another two or three there today:


Although the presence of males at least is easily ascertained actually seeing them in way adequately is often another matter entirely: one of today's males was entirely typical in spending literally the whole day high up within the dense Holm Oak clump in the front garden from where it could be constantly heard but rarely more than glimpsed - we must miss a host of silent females © Martin Cade:  


The odd single Painted Ladys have begun to be logged in recent days - this one was the first to make it into the Obs garden this year © Martin Cade:



And finally, we couldn't resist an off-island foray in the early hours for the Spotted Crake that had just been found singing at Lodmoor: