An announcement for PBO members: this year's Annual General Meeting will take place as a virtual meeting at 7pm on Saturday 12th September 2020; an agenda for the meeting and details of how to attend can be viewed by clicking on the link HERE
A claggy day in more ways than one started damp, with shoes coated in clumps of sticky mud after yesterday's deluge, however the clouds rapidly evaporated to reveal a hot and humid afternoon. Much of the quality came before the departure of the cloud cover with six Pied Flycatchers trapped (two rather unusually amongst the crops in the Crown Fields), as well as the first decent passage of Tree Pipits of the season, of which four were trapped. Willow Warblers and Wheatears continued to be present in double figures, the supporting cast included singles of Whinchat, Grasshopper, Sedge, Reed and Garden Warbler, as well as the first Chiffchaff since 17th July. A brief pulse of sea movement ahead of incoming rain at the end of the afternoon saw 70 Manx and 2 Balearic Shearwaters pass through off the Bill. Elsewhere on the island, a single Snipe, five Tree Pipits, two Yellow Wagtails and a single Pied Flycatcher were at Blacknor whilst another two of the latter were at Thumb Lane. Ferrybridge saw a little intrigue with a single Ruff, two Redshank and five Sanderling.
Always one of the trickier waders to catch up with at Portland, this Ruff made a typically fleeting visit to Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:
Tree Pipit passage is gathering momentum now that we're past the middle of August - this was one of four trapped this morning in the Crown Estate Field © Martin Cade:
