A reasonably uneventful day with a couple of nice highlights. The day started crisp and clear with very little noticeable migration, thankfully a mystery
Phyllosc came to add a little excitement. This later transpired into one of our days highlight as a
Wood Warbler was trapped in the final net round of the day. The second highlight came from a sea watch total of 131
Balearic Shearwaters, an unusually high count for the North-westerly winds we experienced throughout the day. Besides these, a handful of common migrants were all we had to offer including: 18
Yellow Wagtails, 7
Grey Wagtails, 4
Tree Pipits, 2
Redstarts, 3
Spotted Flycatchers, 1
Pied Flycatcher, 1
Garden Warbler, 12
Blackcaps, 2
Lesser Whitethroats, 1
Reed Warbler, 1
Goldcrest and 1
Golden Plover.
Elsewhere on the island, both Blacknor and Ferrybridge were the sites of fly-by
Merlins. Other records at Ferrybridge included: 2
Mute Swans, 30
Ringed Plover, 17
Dunlin, 14
Turnstone and 30
Oystercatchers.
As migration ground slowly onwards today, our guests took to photographing some of the commoner species such as the resident Ravens and the obliging Spotted Flycatchers. This hoverfly, found by the obs quarry has been identified as
Chrysotoxum cautum (Large Wasp-hoverfly) and possibly represents the second ever record for Portland, although this is likely due to under recording
© Simon Colenutt thedeskboundbirder
