Overnight rain that dragged on after dawn offered promise that was eventually fulfilled in fine fashion with a
Red-throated Pipit that gave a couple of fly-over views on Bill Hill late in the afternoon; earlier, scarcity interest had come in the form of a flurry of 3 new
Yellow-browed Warblers at Southwell together with a lingerer at the Obs, a reappearance of the
Pallas's Warbler at the Obs and a new
Red-necked Grebe in Portland Harbour. The post-dawn rain completely killed overhead passage and it was left to grounded arrivals to provide common migrant entertainment; numbers dropped from yesterday's high but at the Bill
Robins again arrived steadily, a sprinkle of new
thrushes and
crests included 3
Firecrests, whilst 2
Black Redstarts, 2
Snipe and singles of
Merlin and
Golden Plover were all of note. A lone
Balearic Shearwater through off the Bill was the only worthwhile report from the sea.
Perhaps the ultimate fieldworkers bird at Portland: there's never a widely-seen Red-throated Pipit here and as far as we know these are the first photographs ever taken of one on the island (and in Dorset?)...
...and this is the first sound recording of one here © Joe Stockwell:
Pallas's Warbler and Yellow-browed Warbler in the Obs garden today...
...and yesterday's Serin bombing over the beach hut fields at the Bill © Joe Stockwell:
Obvious arrivals of Scarce Bordered Straw (52 = this year's peak and thinking it'll be our highest ever single night total), Silver Y and DSGrass in the Obs moth-traps last night but not much better than that
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 25, 2024 at 10:05 AM
