Red-necked Grebe - Portland Harbour, 9th March 2014 © Joe Stockwell Yet another birding blog
9th March
With high pressure beginning to get well established there
was little hope of a dawn fall but plenty of expectation of later arrivals and
some seawatching. Having being disappointingly absent thus far, it certainly
wasn't a surprise that the first 2 Wheatears - singles at both the Bill and
Ferrybridge - put in an appearance, whilst other interest on the land came in
the form of 7 Golden Plovers and a Redwing grounded at the Bill and a constant
light trickle of northbound Meadow Pipits and alba wagtails everywhere; a
Common Buzzard also looked to have arrived in/off at the Bill. Amongst a light
passage of commoner gulls the sea also came up with 4 Sandwich Terns, 3 Curlew,
2 Red-throated Divers and a Great Northern Diver through off the Bill, 3 Great
Crested Grebes settled offshore there and 2 Red-throated Divers, 2 Shelduck and
a Pintail through off Chesil; at least 2 Iceland Gulls were again roaming
around between Ferrybridge and Chesil Cove, and one of the Red-necked Grebes
was still in Portland Harbour.