11th November

The arrival of yet another Sabine's Gull at Chesil Cove - a second juvenile joined the bird lingering on from yesterday - provided day-long entertainment, with a late Common Tern in Portland Harbour adding yet another species to the week's seabird list. The clearing sky and rising temperature looked to offer promise of other arrivals - particularly overhead - but in the event 3 Swallows and a passing Short-eared Owl were all that could be mustered by way of aerial interest; odds and ends on the ground included lingering singles of Water Rail, Cetti's Warbler and Dartford Warbler at the Bill, the Wheatear still at Hamm Beach and a scatter of several single Black Redstarts.

Look-alikes but not that alike: the two juvenile Sabine's Gulls have been shown to be the same two that first arrived in West Dorset on 9th November © Pete Saunders:



A Common Tern to add to this week's tally of wrecked seabirds © Pete Saunders: