19th January

In the nicest conditions of the year to date there were plenty of opportunities for fieldwork, with a Hooded Crow (or hybrid) discovered at Barleycrates Lane the best of the rewards; the Cirl Bunting that had remained hidden in the recent wind and rain duly revealed itself again and the Little Gull continued to put on a good show there. Otherwise it much as before, with 14 Red-throated Divers through off the Bill where auk numbers looked from sample counts to have reached around the 10000 mark, single Black Redstarts were at the Bill and Southwell, a Blackcap was at Easton and 8 each of Great Northern Diver and Black-necked Grebe, 4 Eiders, 2 Common Scoter and singles of Black-throated Diver and Slavonian Grebe were in Portland Harbour.

At least 4 Common Dolphins were off the Bill.

The first Speckled Wood of the year was on the wing at Southwell.

It had always been assumed the Cirl Bunting was about but staying hidden and that proved to be the case, with the steady flow of birders and photographers drawn to Reap Lane by the lingering Little Gull ensuring it was quickly spotted today © Pete Saunders:




The biggest surprise of the day was this Speckled Wood basking in the sun at Reap Lane - we have no previous island records for the months of December, January or February © Martin Cade: