11th August

In the context of routine migration at Portland thick fog's usually very unwelcome but today's peasouper - that lingered far longer than forecast - did us favours both passerine-wise and wader-wise. Waders were really well represented, with the towards 600 total at Ferrybridge easily the year's highest tally there: Ringed Plover and Dunlin on 280 and 260 apiece accounted for the bulk of the numbers, with 27 Oystercatchers, 14 Turnstones, 5 Sanderlings, 2 Redshank and a Knot providing some variety amongst the lower totals; wader variety was also a feature at the Bill, where 19 Oystercatchers, 10 Ringed Plovers, 7 Dunlin, 6 Redshanks, 3 Sanderling and a Turnstone made the roll-call. Passerines were far less numerous and weren't easy to get amongst in the dripping-wet cover but Sedge and Willow Warblers were both well into double figures at the Bill, where 3 Tree Pipits overhead were hopefully a sign of things to come in the next few weeks. Despite the often limited visibility the sea got lots of looks, with 38 Balearic, 32 Manx and a Cory's Shearwater the chief rewards at the Bill, where 35 Common Scoter, 9 Shelducks, 46 commic terns that included at least 6 Arctics, a Storm Petrel and an Arctic Skua were also logged.

Of course, it's the time of year when waders are on the move but after passing this new signage on our way to have a post-tea check of Ferrybridge this evening we were really heartened to find the mudflats not only empty of people and dogs but also rammed with birds...

...the signage has been installed - in conjunction with this Code for Birders & Wildlife Photographers - as part of the Chesil and Fleet Mitigation Partnership being developed by the guys at the Wild Chesil Centre:

Past experience from ring-readings has shown that Ferrybridge hosts waders passing through from a geographically staggeringly wide range of breeding places and staging sites so it'll be interesting to find out where this Dunlin present this evening was ringed:

With regard to this season's breeding success it's been noticeable that, perhaps with the exception of Ringed Plovers, juvenile birds still haven't been much of a feature amongst the gathering throng so it was nice to see the first young Knot of the autumn:

It was also good to see a spread of Wheatears popping up along the edge of Chesil - so far this autumn they haven't been at all numerous on our daytime stomping-ground at the Bill:

The sight of some active migration was also exciting: this group of Turnstones were super-agitated all evening - whizzing around calling loudly in between bouts of voracious feeding - and eventually as the sun was setting behind Chesil they towered up miles over the beach and struck off southwards - fantastic! © Martin Cade:

And finally, the day's novelty was this Budgie that pitched up on the rooftops of the lighthouse cottages at the Bill - hopefully this isn't as good as it's going to get for us on the land in the next few days © John Dadds: