31st May

Since it looked like the only day during a long run of very samey anticyclonic weather that would have any sort of cloud cover at dawn expectations were certainly on the positive side today. Although migrants did respond there was perhaps not quite as much on offer as had been hoped, with 57 Swifts and 25 Spotted Flycatchers at the Bill and 64 Sanderling at Ferrybridge accounting for the bulk of the numbers; a Turtle Dove at the Bill was the only oddity discovered. Variety came in the form of 6 Willow Warblers, 3 each of Reed Warbler and Blackcap, 2 Garden Warblers and singles of Whinchat and Chiffchaff at the Bill/Southwell, another Whinchat at Reap Lane and a Grey Plover at Ferrybridge. The sea always gave hope but, as with the land, never quite reached its full potential, with 46 Common Scoter, 26 commic terns, 3 Sandwich Terns and singles of Great Northern Diver, Balearic Shearwater, Shoveler and Arctic Skua the best of the morning tally at the Bill.

Today belonged to Spotted Flycatchers...

...and Sanderlings © Martin Cade:

Still the migrants come: Whitethroat, Blackcap, Spotted Flycatcher & Reed Warbler already from the Obs mist-nets on a cloudier morning than of late pic.twitter.com/wFIjrL06AS

— Portland Bird Observatory (@PortlandBirdObs) May 31, 2023

lulworth skippers out at bottomcombe n over church ope cove. look as if they probably have been for a few days. adonis now on the wing at church ope cove too, again probably have been for a few days pic.twitter.com/ipZcG2RBGI

— andy (@andy33082645) May 31, 2023