28th October

Today saw the movements of birds that we had anticipated with the onslaught of yesterdays gale. A good passage of Brent Geese on the sea was accompanied by a very strong showing of thrushes including over 250 Redwings, 110 Blackbirds, 14 Fieldfares, 2 Mistle Thrushes and 2 Ring Ouzels. A selection of waterfowl and waders were also on the move over land and sea with 17 Common Scoter, 14 Teal, 7 Wigeon, 5 Pintail, 5 Lapwings and a Golden Plover. at the Bill and 2 Greenland White-fronted Geese over Ferrybridge. Chaffinches put in another good showing with over 500 recorded across the island, however Brambling numbers were down on recent days with just 4 for the day. Highlights came from a huge passage of Starlings up the west cliff with over 2000 birds, a Woodlark over the Crown Fields and a lone Firecrest at the Avalanche Hump.

We're struggling to discover any good reason as to why Greenland White-front shouldn't have at least as decent a claim to full specific status as some of the dodgy passerine 'splits' of the modern era but, be that as it may, there don't appear to have been any previous claims of this form at Portland so today's nicely documented fly-bys at Ferrybridge were an excellent first for the island © Edmund Mackrill:


A brilliant display from the Redwings around the Obs Garden today was obviously replicated in the gardens around Southwell © Debby Saunders: