14th June

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 120etc
Balearic Shearwater 1etc
Common Scoter 44e
Arctic Skua 3e
Mediterranean Gull 10etc
Black-headed Gull 3e 2w
Sandwich Tern 3e
Reed Warbler 1
Chiffchaff 1

Ferrybridge
Ringed Plover 7
Dunlin 3
Bar-tailed Godwit 1
Redshank 1

We tapped into an unexpected little bit of avian drama at the Bill tip during our evening seawatch when we begun hearing the unmistakable shrill peeping of a baby Guillemot approaching from behind us off East Cliffs and the lost youngster duly came into view, still calling incessantly as it paddled frantically westwards. Much further offshore it eventually made contact with a group of loafing adult Guillemots who seemed to give it as much stick as they did love and attention so we presumed its parents weren't amongst this group. Being keen to see how things played out we moved over to Pulpit Rock to get closer to the action and caught up with events just as the bird made contact with two more adults that, from the seemingly more positive mood music, we reckon were likely to have been its parents. How the hapless youngster became separated from them in the first place is a matter for conjecture but, since jumplings at the Bill very rarely leave the cliffs anytime much before the half light of dusk, we'd venture that the best bet was that it fell accidentally and got swept by the tide well off to the east before struggling back towards familiar territory at the colony © Martin Cade: