18th March

Unexpected overnight rain - that appeared to be absent from both the weather forecasts and rainfall radars - dragged on for a while after dawn but dropped a far more underwhelming selection of migrants than had been the case yesterday. Single figure totals of grounded arrivals included just an extra Firecrest of note at the Bill, where 7 Long-tailed Tits were also new at the Obs and the season's first Swallow was the pick of the trickle of expected fare dribbling through overhead. Offshore, an Arctic Skua through off the Bill was another first for the spring; 16 Red-throated Divers and 2 Manx Shearwaters were the best of the rest there.

Four Dark Sword Grass and a Silver Y spread between the Obs and Grove moth-traps provided some more migrant moth interest.

17th March

Quite whether there were migrants on the move during the last few nights might not have been established but there was no such doubt about last night when another dose of heavy rain through the small hours dropped what for the middle of March were pretty decent numbers of Chiffchaffs, with a good 100 scattered across the Bill and plenty more elsewhere around the island. Unsurprisingly, variety was otherwise limited, with no more than 3 Blackcaps, 2 Goldcrests and singles of Wheatear and Firecrest at the Bill and a lone White Wagtail at Blacknor. Seawatching was thwarted for several hours by poor visibility and only singles of Red-throated Diver and Manx Shearwater were logged at the Bill once conditions improved.


16th March

We're not at all sure what we're doing wrong right now but the upshot of it is that migration is not far off a non-event despite the influence of a well-established and seemingly promising mild airflow. Three Wheatears, 2 Goldcrests and singles of White Wagtail, Blackcap and Chiffchaff were the sum total of the grounded tally at the Bill/Southwell, where a trickle of alba wagtails arrived overhead and 6 Red-throated Divers and a Manx Shearwater passed by on the sea. A selection of winterers - including 8 Purple Sandpipers and 2 Black Redstarts at the Bill and a Black-necked Grebe in Portland Harbour - remained on station.

Single Silver Ys provided overnight migrant moth interest at the Obs and the Grove.

Goldcrest at Southwell © Alan Mayell...


...and Black-necked Grebe and Great Northern Diver at Portland Harbour © Pete Saunders:


15th March

No uptick in migration at all today, with just 3 Chiffchaffs and 2 Wheatears grounded at the Bill. Even the sea failed to save the day with no more than 4 Red-throated Divers and 3 Common Scoter through offshore.


14th March

With a grounded migrant tally at the Bill of just 4 Wheatears, 4 Goldcrests and 2 Chiffchaffs the prevailing mild airstream continued to disappoint on the passerine front. However, the brisk onshore breeze looked to offer opportunities from the sea and duly delivered a surprise Surf Scoter passing through off the Bill amongst a passage of 173 Common Scoter; 15 Shoveler and 5 Red-throated Divers provided the only other interest offshore. A Black Redstart was still present at the Bill, whilst elsewhere the year's first Firecrest was at Sweethill, 3 more Chiffchaffs were at Portland Castle and 4 Great Northern Divers were still in Portland Harbour.

Common Scoters were moving through very purposefully if not in huge numbers off the Bill

If ever there's something that defies agreed quantification off the Bill it's the size of passing scoter flocks - by nature they never fly in an orderly manner and there always seems to be an observer on hand who's counting using a different appendage to everyone else and arrives at a figure one or two different to the majority. For this reason, after a quick scan of a flock for a Velvet Scoter or some other tag-along oddity, we very often photograph the larger flocks to obtain a definitive total. Such was the case today when this flock of 21 came through at a few hundred metres range...

...did you spot the Surf Scoter amongst them? - no, we didn't either until we reviewed this and the other photographs after the flock had gone on by! Here are a few more varyingly cropped enlargements where it's easier to spot © Martin Cade:


The Shoveler flock © Martin Cade:



The Sweethill Firecrest © Nick Stantiford:


One of the Portland Harbour Great Northern Divers © Pete Saunders:

13th March

The presence of a mild airstream isn't always a positive influence at this time of year as the happenings of the last couple of days can attest. Today's migrant activity at the Bill was restricted to just a handful of Chiffchaffs and singles of Wheatear and Redwing on the ground, a trickle of wagtails and pipits arriving overhead and 30 Common Scoter and 8 Red-throated Divers through on the sea - hardly the stuff of dreams. Winter fare still about included 4 Purple Sandpipers at the Bill, 7 Pale-bellied Brent Geese at Ferrybridge and a good total of 51 Turnstones on the Portland Harbour shore.


12th March

A nice mild airflow setting in ought to be just the ticket at this juncture but unfortunately it arrived in tandem with another dose of rain and a much fresher southwesterly that undid all the promising groundwork put in by the quiet conditions of the last couple of days. There were a few new arrivals about but they weren't at all numerous and getting to grips with them wasn't much fun: Chiffchaff just about got into double figures at the Bill where singles of Wheatear and Goldcrest were also grounded; Meadow Pipits were certainly arriving overhead but their passage wasn't tapped into in any meaningful way. The only rewards from the brisker conditions offshore were 15 Brent Geese and 2 Red-throated Divers through off the Bill.

Having handled a couple of birds bearing rings from elsewhere in the last few days reminded us of a nice recovery of one of our birds that we'd recently been notified of: a Sparrowhawk ringed at the Obs last September was found freshly dead a couple of weeks ago at Porthscatho, Cornwall...


...The majority of our recoveries and controls of Sparrowhawks are relatively local and probably largely involve Portland breeding birds. However, in addition to the movement to Cornwall reported above we have a couple of other longer-distance recoveries on our books: one ringed south of London during the breeding season was recovered here in the autumn of the same year and, more spectacularly, one ringed here on autumn passage was recovered during the next breeding season in southern Norway:

11th March

Today's quiet, overcast dawn looked to have plenty of promise and duly delivered what for this early in the season was a sizeable drop of 100 Chiffchaffs at the Bill; with the addition of a dozen Wheatears, 3 Goldcrests, a White Wagtail and a Reed Bunting on the ground and a steady procession of Meadow Pipits, alba wagtails and Chaffinches, 7 Carrion Crows, 2 Starlings and 2 Siskins arriving in off the sea there was plenty to commend. The sea tried its best to be the poor relation with just 9 Red-throated Divers of interest amongst the trickle of mainly Gannets and Common Gulls on the move.

Two control Chiffchaffs is a good hit rate from only a little over 50 of them trapped in the last few days. We're not expecting to hear back with the ringing details of the French bird we featured a few days ago for quite a time but due to the much improved systems now in place at the BTO we'd heard back with the ringing details of the UK bird we handled at lunchtime today by the end of the afternoon - great work guys! It was a little more interesting than some since since it'd been ringed as a recently fledged juvenile at Abberton Reservoir, Essex, on 17th June last year (and retrapped there a few days later). In contrast to the vast majority of our breeding season Willow Warbler recoveries that are from the northwest of the UK, our breeding season Chiffchaff recoveries encompass almost the entire country, including several others from Essex © Martin Cade:


A bird that isn't doing nearly as well as the Chiffchaff, at least for us, is the Goldcrest. On a mid-March fall day at the end of a pretty mild winter we'd have been expecting a hatful of Goldcrests to be tagging along with all the Chiffchaffs so today's three birds was a paltry return indeed...


...Our all-time ringing numbers show that Goldcrest has always been prone to wild fluctuations in numbers but in the past these were perfectly easy to explain, with massive mortality in the coldest of winters being followed by a gradual recovery. What's puzzling lately is that the winters haven't been at all harsh but numbers are at a real low ebb. The only explanation we can think of is that since our birds are predominantly migrants from far afield - we've had ringing recoveries from as far east and north as Poland and Scandinavia but few if any from breeding sites in Britain - they're either not bothering to travel as far as the western extremities of Europe for the winter or the breeding populations in these areas are badly depleted © Martin Cade:


We're still very much in the honeymoon phase with Wheatears - you never tire of looking at them but for the first few days of each spring passage they really do demand attention © Verity Hill:


Another bird that demanded attention today was this daytime Barn Owl © Verity Hill:

10th March

Balmy, quiet conditions made a welcome change to the recent wind and rain, and migrants responded well with a nice arrival throughout the island. Fifty Chiffchaffs and 6 Goldcrests made up the bulk of the grounded numbers at the Bill/Southwell, where an early-ish Blackcap and a Reed Bunting provided interest amongst the lower totals; Chiffchaffs in particular looked to be well spread everywhere else and the whole-island tally must have been well into three figures. Further interest away from the Bill came in the form of the season's first Sandwich Tern in Portland Harbour where an arrival of Great Northern Divers saw 17 counted from Hamm Beach alone (3 Black-throated Divers, 2 Black-necked Grebes and a Slavonian Grebe were also amongst the winterers still in residence around the harbour). There was clearly movement afoot offshore as well as on the land, with 126 Gannets, 24 Mediterranean Gulls, 23 Common Gulls, 22 Common Scoter and 15 Red-throated Divers purposefully eastbound off the Bill.

Wheatear and Blackcap from the day's migrant arrival at the Bill © Jodie Henderson & Martin Cade:



The total of 17 Great Northern Divers gathered in groups off Hamm Beach was an unexpected sight and represented easily the highest count of the year in the harbour. Many years ago fair-sized parties were quite frequent in March and April as birds gathered to moult in the outer reaches of the harbour and Weymouth Bay so it's tempting to wonder if today's event isn't the precursor to something along these lines © Pete Saunders:


Another odd sight was this Kittiwake settled on the cliff top along East Cliffs at the Bill. It didn't appear to be unwell but experience suggests that these sort of events often don't end well © Jodie Henderson:



9th March

From mid-morning onwards a constant procession of bands of rain of varying heaviness severely restricted birding opportunities today and it was only the early starters that got much from the day. At the Bill the season's first 2 Wheatears were on cue grounded arrivals along with another light scatter of Chiffchaffs and a Reed Bunting. Overhead, a Marsh Harrier arrived in off the sea and a Grey Wagtail passed over but the onset of the rain scuppered any chance of quantifying the flow of incoming Meadow Pipits. A lone Red-breasted Merganser sitting out the rain offshore was the only seawatch sighting of note. Elsewhere, 10 Chiffchaffs and a Black Redstart were at Blacknor.

8th March

In an even brisker easterly visible passage continued apace, with sample counts of Meadow Pipits through along West Cliffs (226 in two hours mid-morning and later 354 in the hour either side of midday) suggesting that with fuller coverage their day total would have been well up into four figures; the other usual suspects were represented but none reached even double figure totals during the sample counts. Grounded arrivals were well spread if not particularly varied: an Avocet that dropped in at Ferrybridge was the pick of the bunch but the season's first Goldcrest at the Bill and a good scatter of new Stonechats (including 11 at Ferrybridge alone) and Chiffchaffs ensured there a fair bit to look at everywhere. For the most part sea passage was a dead loss although a Long-tailed Duck lingering off Chesil did provide the watchers there with a decent reward.

Always a tricky bird to catch up with at Portland: historically, mid-March is as good a time as any to jam in on a passing Avocet © Pete Saunders:


Talking of jamming in, what were the chances of us getting a French control out of only six Chiffchaffs handled so far this spring? © Martin Cade:

7th March

There's nothing like the onset of a blasting easterly to perk up both vismig and sea interest, and even this early in the spring both West Cliffs and the Bill/Chesil were rewarding. A Spoonbill through north along West Cliffs was the highlight but a sample count from there of 808 Meadow Pipits north in 150 minutes - along with the likes of 11 Wood Pigeons and singles of Grey Wagtail and Reed Bunting - showed just how much was on the move. The sea didn't have anything like those numbers, but 26 Pintail, 9 Shovelers and a Dunlin through off the Bill and 47 Black-headed Gull, 11 Common Gulls and 2 Shelducks from Chesil were the pick of the movers there. The land was very hard work in the buffeting wind but pockets of Chiffchaffs in shelter included 11 through a private garden at Southwell and 4 at the Obs.


Having seen one blisteringly close flock of Pintail that almost looked like they were over the beach huts we were tempted away from the shelter/comfort of the Obs to do a proper seawatch at the Bill. Sadly, events there weren't quite such a spectacle: another pair of Pintail were hundreds of metres out...

...whilst the flock of Shoveler were just tiny specks at towards two kilometres range - through binoculars they were no more than just silhouetted duck spp and it took very heavily blown-up photographs to reveal their true identity © Martin Cade:


One of the day's Chiffchaffs at the Obs - a view of them that we'll hopefully be getting well used to in the next few weeks © Martin Cade:
 

6th March

Much improved conditions and a little uptick in migrant activity today. A Marsh Harrier at the Bill looked a lot the individual that was there a few days ago (perhaps it's straying out from Weymouth?), a Chiffchaff lingered on at the Obs and the first Greenfinch of the year also showed up there but the numbers involved visible passage, with 205 Meadow Pipits and 14 alba wagtails north along West Cliffs. Other than that 7 Red-throated Divers passed by off the Bill and a few routine winterers were logged there and at Portland Harbour.

5th March

With the morning largely rained off there was only limited coverage today and 8 Red-throated Divers through off the Bill and a Chiffchaff lingering at the Obs were the only noteworthy sightings.

4th March

Five of the six Pale-bellied Brent Geese that headed west over Ferrybridge this morning - the only new arrivals reported on a day of increasingly unbirdable conditions © Pete Saunders:

3rd March

Oddly quiet on the migrant front today despite lovely, fine conditions that looked eminently suitable for visible passage if not for grounded newcomers. Another Chiffchaff at the Obs and a light trickle of Mediterranean Gulls through on the sea was all there was to report, bar a selection of continuing winterers that included 5 Black-throated Divers and 4 Slavonian Grebes in Portland Harbour.

These two showy Black-necked Grebes were amongst the day's Portland Harbour selection © Pete Saunders:


2nd March

Yesterday's first day of meteorological spring carried on in much the same vein as meteorological winter had ended: comprehensively wet and birdless. Today's much nicer conditions brought a hint of ornithological spring, with the season's first migrant Chiffchaff showing up at the Bill, where a handful of Meadow Pipits and a Stock Dove arrived in off the sea; a Redwing was also a new arrival there and 2 Red-throated Divers passed by on the sea. Wintering fare included the Short-eared Owl at the Bill and several of the regular Black Redstarts dotted about.

Not having any wintering Chiffchaffs about at the Bill makes it a lot easier to spot the first migrant, with this bird's pollened forehead indicating it had likely arrived from a fair bit further away than just across the Channel © Martin Cade:



28th February

With most of the day washed out - yet again! - the only meaningful fieldwork came in the first couple of hours after dawn. A frustrating event at the Bill involved a Slavonian or Black-necked Grebe passing by a little too far offshore to be clinched - both these species are perfectly get-able in the harbour but are real rarities on passage off the Bill. The quiet, murky conditions overnight had looked promising for some audible passage of thrushes but in the event the nocmig recorder at the Obs logged just 12 Redwings calls between 10pm and dawn; the year's first Moorhen calling overhead shortly before midnight did however provide an on-cue minor highlight from the recording.

This single Pale-bellied Brent has turned up from time to time all winter at Ferrybridge but seems to do its own thing and doesn't associate with the family party that also drop in now and again © Pete Saunders:

27th February

Today's only obvious change involved a little bit more diver movement off the Bill - 11 Red-throated and 3 Great Northern - but since this was all westward it likely didn't involve early spring migrants. Other than that an extra Long-tailed Tit joined the 3 lingering at the Obs.


26th February

A clear, sunny sky replaced yesterday's near day-long rain but the blasting northeasterly in constant attendance provided a rude awakening after the recent mildness. A Yellow-legged Gull was new at the Bill where 3 Long-tailed Tits lingered at the Obs and 3 Red-throated Divers passed through on the sea. Elsewhere, the 7 wintering Pale-bellied Brent Geese showed up again at Ferrybridge.

The year's first Yellow-legged Gull was the pick of the day's arrivals at the Bill © Martin Cade:


The three Long-tailed Tits that first showed up at the Obs in yesterday's horrible weather had been assumed to be part of a small wintering group (that had first been ringed in September last year) that lingered there for a few days nearly a month ago but in today's better conditions it was realised they were all unringed and so were new arrivals © Martin Cade:


The melee of Mediterranean Gulls making the most of the surf off Hamm Beach included lots of birds now in full summer plumage © Pete Saunders:

24th February

We haven't done a full survey of the Bill area Skylarks just yet but they seem to have reached near to full complement and are certainly now in good voice © Martin Cade:


Although there have been the first signs of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Meadow Pipits arriving from the south over the last few days, today's only migrant action looked to be another fair spread of non-local Stonechats everywhere © Martin Cade:


We're not sure of the Raven situation further up the island but the Freshwater Bay pair that didn't breed last year have been busy bulking out and lining their nest just lately; this was it last weekend...



...and this is it today:


We'd have expected them to be sitting by now but there was no sign of that today © Jodie Henderson

23rd February

Not an expected February arrival: this Marsh Harrier was over the Crown Estate Field for a while this morning © Martin Cade:



21st February

Yet more bucketloads of rain today - the sort of conditions when the regular Obs garden Sparrowhawk sat looking bedraggled and miserable as sin for a good half an hour eyeing up one of the feeders before eventually leaving in disgust as no potential victims were venturing out of cover © Martin Cade:


20th February

 

19th February

The one Short-eared Owl that's been wintering at the Bill hasn't usually been a broad daylight performer but this afternoon it showed up for a little while in the Obs Quarry Field and on the Slopes where it afforded some nice flying and settled views © Martin Cade:


18th February

Early passage continued apace, with Stonechats again conspicuous throughout the south of the island where the total of 80 logged included c70 non-locals; singles of Snipe and Redwing where also fresh in at the Bill. Two Black-headed Gulls and a Red-throated Diver passed through off the Bill and a routine selection of winterers were still on offer there and elsewhere.

The year's first Hummingbird Hawkmoth was on the Portland Castle.

17th February

 

One of the Portland Harbour Black-necked Grebes was showing blisteringly well today © Pete Saunders:



Great Northern Diver - one of five there today - overhead at Portland Harbour © Pete Saunders:

Yesterday's arrival of Stonechats proved to be the precursors to some more northbound passage overnight, when Redwings were dropped to audible height once fog set in during the early hours - the nocmig recorder at the Obs logged 106 calls between 01:00 and 02:30 before movement fizzled out:


It seems that moth migration has been vectored away from Portland during the spell of renewed movement that's been evident in the latter part of this week; however, the year's first Rush Veneer and another Silver-spotted Veneer were decent rewards from last night's trapping at the Obs © Martin Cade:
 

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: