5th September

In uninspiring clear north-westerlies it was the hinterland that struck with today's interest, with reports from the Grove area of a Wryneck and an Ortolan Bunting. Unsurprisingly, it was overhead movement that dominated at the Bill, where 300 Swallows and 147 Siskins made up the bulk of the tally through the morning; there's been a feeling that just recently Portland's been off any vector of mainstream migration and this was further confirmed when the likes of Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail and Tree Pipit - all of which might be expected to be really numerous right now - returned pitifully meagre low double figure totals today. Working the land was little more than an exercise in scraping the migration barrel: furtive Blackcaps were audible in some quantity in the denser scrub around the centre of the island but at the Bill the low single figure totals of most seasonable fare included little of note beyond a single Pied Flycatcher. The total of 5 Balearic Shearwaters and a single Great Skua from the sea at the Bill probably exceeded expectations given the conditions.

Yesterday it was a Merlin on the hunt for hapless migrants and today it was a Peregrine causing mayhem amongst the waders at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders: