Elsewhere on the island, the Ortolan Buntings showed early doors for a few lucky birders at High Ang1e Battery; a Hobby was over Barleycrates Lane, 4 Spotted and a Pied Flycatcher were at Southwell and Ferrybridge maintained its steady course with: 1 Grey Wagtail, 7 Wheatears, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Sanderling, 48 Dunlin, 65 Ringed Plover, 18 Turnstone and 1 Sandwich Tern. Rather more unexpectedly, the summering Whooper Swan from further up the Fleet was spotted off Chesil during the morning before it evidently returned to Abbotsbury.
A massive thank you to Martin King for this fantastic selection of photos including this Araneus Sp. © Martin King:
Martin spent a while this afternoon photographing our pond life (and occasionally having a snooze in the sun) and has produced some excellent shots of Common Pond Skaters, including the moment an unfortunate Marmalade Hoverfly strayed too close to the voracious predator © Martin King:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-SrXXePFWo679vf0uPqcYGY9IZZmsHGpK6rY8Z-n1XHcHVFxNSd2MQ-AQaoZSeOkQX8SEuSQwwP510_x60dOZTZKckD47EDu_8_aMmek66T8K_sLBdbYuNxzmotk7Vb4bhplz_YWdjg/s1600/bp_instar-pond-skater-050918.jpg)
Unfortunately, earlier this autumn our resident male (and very nicely marked) Sparrowhawk hit a window and died. Fortunately he successfully managed to produce a minimum of 3 offspring this summer and these progeny, along with the resident female, have been putting on an excellent display throughout the obs area © Martin King
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1WAC8gcReQNetWJ0Pnll2X4WU1O80UmQlObBQOeXfW59HX6IXfKilA66Cd18Mpuoj38XGMyRDwCxG41U68u-JESVxPwG-6y4ln9FqybGlHK46rQZO3HkwylwM3WiLibQwH35WckovH8/s1600/bp_sprawk-mk-050918.jpg)
Today's Ortolan action was brief, with at least one bird showing early morning only at High Angle Battery - later searches there and at Fancy's Farm drew a blank © Roger Hewitt:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWzlg4sy87JtVLzwxUHzL_mrMwBt0aJjc9kUe8UXnr990ZE63l991QC2w5yGxziaK2aQkXMj28ffmlc6x-L3zS6lHg8yiP_TXaiX-N8sDeJ4b8V98kZBSbiDWAN56QkYj-8qbKEsBOgFo/s1600/bp_ortolan_050918.jpg)