Wow, what a ripping day - not that that was altogether surprising given the combination of clear, cold air that followed the passing of an overnight rain band but certainly a 'Portland at its best' spring arrival to remember. Compiling some meaningful day-totals for the island as a whole wasn't the easiest task since there was a conspicuous and rapid throughput of birds from the Bill to points northward so duplication was an issue; however, likely conservative summations include 350 Wheatears (nearly all northwestern birds), 250 Willow Warblers, 180 Whitethroats, 160 Blackcaps, 30 Chiffchaffs, 28 Redstarts, 23 Sedge Warblers, 22 Whinchats, 20 Yellow Wagtails, 15 Grasshopper Warblers, 11 Garden Warblers, 10 Lesser Whitethroats, 9 Reed Warblers, 6 Pied Flycatchers, 5 Ring Ouzels and singles of Turtle Dove, Tree Pipit, Black Redstart, Goldcrest, Spotted Flycatcher and Redpoll; visible passage was sadly neglected but Swallows were in the mid-hundreds, Sand and House Martins certainly well into three figures and Swifts in the low dozens. So fantastically gripping was today's Dungeness seawatch that it's almost embarrassing to mention our paltry efforts, but 400 Gannets (their highest total of the spring to date), 205 commic terns, 180 Bar-tailed Godwits, 47 Sandwich Terns, 20 Arctic Terns, 5 Arctic Skuas and singles of Red-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver and Pomarine Skua were a fair little tally for here.
