7th November

A day slightly saved by the continuing presence of a Pallas's Warbler at Avalanche Road and Yellow-browed Warblers there and at May Bower Gardens; there were still fair numbers of commoner migrants about but considerably fewer than on several recent days and, with the southeasterly having freshened right up, it wasn't nearly so much fun getting amongst those that were about. Most of the passerine movement at the Bill was overhead, with 1560 Goldfinches, 665 Linnets, 280 Starlings, 105 Chaffinches, 40 Redwings, 30 Meadow Pipits, 18 Skylarks, 12 Fieldfares, 7 Siskins and 4 Bramblings making up the bulk of the numbers; at least 2 Swallows were additions to the tally from the centre of the island. On the ground at the Bill there were still into double figures of Black Redstarts about (with several more further up-island) but new arrivals consisted mainly of low single figure totals of Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests; elsewhere, a Firecrest was new at Avalanche Road. Auks continued to pile by offshore, with c5000 through off the Bill during the morning; 250 Mediterranean Gulls, 125 Kittiwakes, 70 Common Gulls, 25 Black-headed Gulls and 21 Lesser Black-backed Gulls also passed through there; the Red-necked Grebe also remained in Portland Harbour.

The Pallas's Warbler showed nicely at times at Avalanche Road © Nick Hopper:

Nothing particularly to do with birds but news of a potentially confusing name change relating to a local birding hot-spot: one of the nicer patches of trees at Southwell are those along the south side of what used to be the site of Southwell Primary School; well, the school is now long gone and the site has been developed as an estate of new houses called, perhaps rather fancifully, May Bower Gardens - gardens aren't exactly a feature among the serried ranks of new build but the trees have been saved and it's now possible to access them on the 'inside' of the site as well as looking in from the footpath between Sweet Hill Lane and Reap Lane. In the same manner that the trees at the former Craft Centre at Weston Steet continued to be known to birders by that name before the official map name, Thumb Lane, entered common parlance, so we imagine the name Southwell School will be used for a while yet even though it'll no longer appear as that on Google Maps © Martin Cade:

Two late autumn days at @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social with EGI @oxfordbiology.bsky.social graduate students. A Pallas's Warbler the rarity highlight; Black Redstarts, Firecrest & plenty of migrants overhead. A modest but interesting mix of species caught - always good to see Sparrowhawk #UKBirding

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— Ben Sheldon (@sheldonbirds.bsky.social) November 7, 2024 at 3:53 PM

Poorest migrant moth night for a while at the Obs, mainly due to a really stiff southeasterly springing up soon after dusk

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) November 7, 2024 at 12:11 PM