27th July

Unseasonable, gale force winds and intermittent showers kept birding to a minimum on the land. Expectations for the sea were high but delivered very little in the way of year ticks.  A passage of 70+ Manx Shearwaters were not accompanied by any of their rarer relatives, and an additional three Yellow-legged Gulls and singles of Bonxie, PuffinWhimbrel and Dunlin were the only real highlights from the selection. The land was difficult going with much of the mornig dominated by driving rain showers, a pair of hardy Willow Warblers in the garden and a lone Wheatear at Walls End were about the best we could muster in the gaps in the rain. 

Belated news from yesterday of a Cattle Egret in amongst the scarce herd of cattle (there are only two herds on Portland to our knowledge). Build it and they will come... ©Dave Rashley: