16th May

The Great Spotted Cuckoo continued to entertain although it gave its would-be observers quite a run around at times today by constantly moving between the Obs garden and Reap Lane (...has there ever been a Portland rarity that's been as mobile as this?). In wall-to-wall sunshine most of the day's migrant numbers concerned visible passage, with Swallows moving along West Cliffs at up to 600 per hour; 3 Hobbys and a Cuckoo also passed through, whilst during the evening an Osprey drifted out from the mainland and headed away to the west over the north of the island. It was quieter on the ground with, for example, Bill totals that included 10 each of Chiffchaff and Spotted Flycatcher, 6 Blackcaps, 4 Wheatears, 2 each of Reed Warbler and Willow Warbler, and singles of Short-eared Owl and Garden Warbler.


Short-eared Owl - Portland Bill, 16th May 2016 © Martin Cade

Finally, it's got to that time of year when there are too many hours of daylight/too many things to do and not enough hours of darkness in which to recoup sufficient sleep to function properly(!); we're well aware we've accumulated quite a backlog of photographs from recent days that we've been sent but haven't had enough time to deal with so apologies to all concerned - we'll try and catch up as the week goes on.