We've been fortunate to have been blessed with a fair bit of benign weather throughout September and October - for example, there have only been four days in the two months when we haven't had at least some of the mist-nets open - and that pattern looks to be sticking as we see out October. Today's calm and largely overcast conditions were a pleasure to be out birding in and although heavy overnight passage was not maintained - the Obs nocmig recorder had picked up
Redwings moving at a peak of just shy of 500 in the hour either side of midnight - there were plenty of arrivals to get amongst once dawn broke. Warblers and crests are clearly fizzling out but the likes of an autumn peak to date of 30
Reed Buntings at the Bill was representative of the sort of things on the move now;
Black Redstarts were well-represented with at least 10 scattered about the island, with 2 late
Garden Warblers and singles of
Short-eared Owl,
Firecrest,
Bullfinch and
Cirl Bunting all providing interest amongst the more routine fare on offer at the Bill. Elsewhere, a
Turtle Dove visited a private garden at Southwell, whilst the
Red-necked Grebe remained in Portland Harbour where singles of
Black-throated Diver and
Black-necked Grebe were also logged. Overhead passage was fitful, with the bulk of
Wood Pigeons perhaps grounded by murkier conditions on the mainland; 1200 did still pass over the Bill, along with 150
Goldfinches, 100
Chaffinches, 70
Meadow Pipits, 70
Linnets, 22
Skylarks, 14
Siskins, 6
Golden Plovers, 4
Swallows, 3
Bramblings, a late
Yellow Wagtail and a
Redpoll amongst others. Nine
Balearic Shearwaters passed by off the Bill along with 380
Mediterranean Gulls, 40
Common Gulls, 3
Arctic Skuas and a
Great Skua.
This Turtle Dove that turned up underneath a bird feeder in a Southwell garden provided welcome confirmation that yesterday's brief fly-around at the Bill hadn't been something a lot rarer! We've seen suggestions that the Turtle Dove's fortunes may be gradually improving but that's not borne out by our observations: our annual total is the lowest ever recorded at Portland, with just two logged during the spring and today's bird a very belated first of the autumn © Keith Pritchard:
There are nicely varied selections of migrants turning up in the mist-nets at the moment, today these included Black Redstart, Garden Warbler and Brambling - a slightly unlikely trio that we'd guess have never all been trapped at Portland on the same day before this © Martin Cade:
Considering half the night was pretty well blown out there was a good catch of migrant moths at the Obs. A Silver-striped Hawk the highlight but decent increases in numbers across the board.
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 29, 2024 at 9:26 AM
Exciting little late night check of the Obs moth-traps: there's another Silver-striped Hawk in one of them!
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 29, 2024 at 11:45 PM