22nd November

The quirks of migration were brought into sharp focus today as Portland fared utterly differently to other watchpoints on either side of the Channel: a persistent band of showers off the French coast no doubt deflected most of the Redwings away from us - Jersey logged thousands, we logged 4 - whilst a varied passage along the nearby mainland coast appeared to entirely miss Portland. Our interest came largely from a conspicuous arrival of many dozens of Blackbirds that, since almost no visible passage of them was evident, presumably arrived overnight. Two Red Kites over the Grove were unexpected visitors but other arrivals consisted of just 7 Lapwings and mainly low single figure totals of a selection of customary thrushes and finches. At least 1 Black Redstart and the Siberian Chiffchaff were still at the Bill, singles of Red-throated Diver, Brent Goose and Red-breasted Merganser passed through on the sea there and 4 Pale-bellied Brent Geese were at Ferrybridge.