Another day with just a single highlight and precious few common migrants to get amongst, that highlight being the appearance of a Monarch butterfly at the Bill. Bird-wise, migrants for the most part continued to avoid the island: some limited overhead passage at the Bill included 100 Siskins, whilst single Ring Ouzels at the Bill and the Grove, and a lone Yellow-legged Gull at the Bill were by far the best of the sparse spread of new arrivals on the ground. Another 200 Great Black-backed Gulls passed by off the Bill but there was little other noteworthy sea movement beyond an apparent up-tick in Gannet numbers.
A Vagrant Emperor dragonfly was at the Grove.
Always a splendid sight, Monarch butterflies have been pretty sparse for us in recent years: back in the 1990s/early 2000s they were relatively frequent, to the extent that there are more than 35 island records in total of which no fewer than 20 were in 2001 alone; however, Jodie's discovery of today's specimen in the East Cliff Quarries at the Bill is the first time that someone's clapped eyes on one at Portland since one spent a couple of days in the Obs garden in late September 2018 © Martin Cade:
The Yellow-legged Gull at the Bill this morning - no doubt a much overlooked species at this time of year now that there are or ought to be more important things to look out for © Joe Stockwell:
