In the face of a poor weather forecast many visiting birders eschewed the chance of another day in the field and ended up missing out on easily the best passerine arrival of the spring - all dropped, rather ironically, by the very weather that had put everyone off; the almost night-long rainfall ended up lasting a couple of hours into the morning, but once it had cleared the south of the island was veritably jumping with new arrivals. Sadly, coverage was woefully inadequate to glean a full picture of what was going on but 50-100 totals each of
Blackcap,
Chiffchaff and
Willow Warbler around the Obs, 100 or more
phylloscs at Avalanche Road and 80
Wheatears and 8
Yellow Wagtails at Reap Lane were snippets that hinted at some decent totals of these and other arrivals. No particular oddities were unearthed, but 2
Grasshopper Warblers and the season's first
Reed and
Sedge Warblers were of note; the
Hoopoe at Weston Street also put in another appearance. The ever-strengthening wind ensured the sea got good looks but the rewards were fewer than in recent days, with 9
Red-throated Divers, 2
Arctic Skuas and a
Garganey the best off the Bill;
terns off Chesil and in Portland Harbour included 7
Arctics at the latter.
