16th February

A very quiet and increasingly mild week ended with the first signs of some passerine arrivals: 27 Stonechats from an incomplete census of the Bill area clearly included many newcomers and the first Redwing for a long time was also fresh in there. Other than that events have been very routine all week, with daily Red-throated Divers passing offshore and many of the regulation winterers still in situ on the land and at Portland Harbour/Ferrybridge.

The Pale-bellied Brent Goose family lingered on at Ferrybridge all week © Pete Saunders:

Ravens have been scavenging around the Bill for more comfortable nest-lining materials now that they're well underway with their breeding attempts © Jodie Henderson:

A sad but fortunately these days rather infrequent sight at the Bill this morning was this really badly oiled Guillemot in difficulty off East Cliffs - it was literally plastered from head to toe © Jodie Henderson: