The lean times continued, with singles of Redshank and Willow Warbler new at the Bill, where odds and ends out to sea included 16 Mediterranean Gulls, 4 Manx Shearwaters, 4 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Sandwich Terns and 2 Common Scoter.
Our breeding bird monitoring is encountering all stages of activity at the moment: today there was a very late Willow Warbler singing away and trying its damnedest to find a mate at Culverwell - good luck with that...
...Skylarks were treating their young to a varied orthopteran diet...
...and every time we wander down for a look at the fledged Wheatears in the Bill Quarry there seems to be more of them: initially we thought there were just two, then a day later a third appeared and, having trapped and ringed all of them days ago, so today the male appears with three completely new unringed youngsters - where on earth did they come from? It really did look as though only the female was attending to the first three youngsters and, at least from what we could see this evening, it was only the male that was attending to the three 'new' birds (and there was actually no sign at that time of the female and the other youngsters); is this sort of staggering of the fledging usual? - we've never seen anything like it during the previous breeding attempts at the Bill © Martin Cade:
Seven (six seen here), Kittiwakes is the largest number I have seen on Pulpit Rock at Portland Bill, for ages - no climbers this morning. Let's hope this seemingly returned breeding species can raise young this year. Four 1st summers and two adults here. pic.twitter.com/xDYQ4KT9RL
— Keith Pritchard (@portlandbirder) June 22, 2023
Nipped to the fields and cliffs near @PortlandBirdObs after some gull ringing and was absolutely blown away by the wildlife. Especially the orchids, little owl and marbled whites. pic.twitter.com/5rCHMoK7vs
— Thomas Faulkner (@naturelogger) June 22, 2023
