25th February

It seems from national reports that there's some pretty early migrant activity afoot at the moment and Portland got in on the act today with its first Wheatear of the spring that showed up on East Cliffs at the Bill  It really is still a bit too early in the season to have expected much more than that but a 'pollened' Chiffchaff, an overflying Siskin, a Carrion Crow in/off and the first Greenfinch of the year provided further morsels of interest at the Bill; additionally, another 208 Redwings calls were logged overnight by the nocmic recorder at the Obs. A few of the wintering regulars putting in appearances at the Bill included the Firecrest and Black Redstart, whilst both the Firecrest and the Great Spotted Woodpecker remained at Pennsylvania Castle. The only reports from the sea there were of 11 more passing Red-throated Divers.

The first Painted Lady of the year was on the wing at Wakeham.

We don't need an excuse to gross out on the year's first Wheatear, particularly when it was as early as this one - Portland's only earlier record is of one at the Bill on 22nd February 1998 © David Betteridge (top two) and Phil Cheeseman (bottom):




Skylark song was a constant accompaniment under today's sunny sky and closer inspection of their activities revealed plenty of territorial argy-bargy © Roy Norris:



There might be newcomers arriving but there are still plenty of winterers about that yesterday included 2 Kingfishers still on the harbour shore © Pete Saunders:


Barn Owls continue to be reported throughout the island and last week saw the unfortunate discovery of the remains of one at the Bill that looked as though it had fallen victim to an avian predator. The bird was ringed and today we discovered, rather astonishingly, that it had been ringed as a nestling near Andover, north Hampshire, in June 2023. Having now had recoveries at Portland of birds that had travelled more than 40 kms from Devon and 100 kms from Hampshire to get here (both mapped below) we're certainly having to reassess our belief that British Barn Owls are largely sedentary and that the birds we see around the island are all 'just' locals.

22nd February

The arrival of almost all-day sunshine and pleasant mildness prompted a welcome surge in fieldwork that was well-timed for it coincided with a small flurry of new arrivals. As they often are at this juncture, Stonechats were easily the most conspicuous of these newcomers, with 45 logged at the Bill and 2 also new along the harbour shore; Redwings would have been more numerous had many of the 108 logged by the nocmig recorder at the Obs dropped in, but in the event just 6 were found after daybreak. Also on the move were 3 Pied Wagtails and 2 Skylarks watched arrived in off the sea at the Bill. Other than that the land was relatively quiet: a selection of Chiffchaffs here and there included some that were presumed not to be winterers and a lingering Lapwing remained at the Bill but most of the other reports concerned routine long-stayers; belated news was also received of some more wintering Blackcaps: 2 visiting a garden at Verne Common have apparently been present all year and another visited a garden at Reforne earlier this month. Offshore, a Long-tailed Duck was new at Portland Harbour and 12 Red-throated Divers and 9 Black-headed Gulls passed through off the Bill.

A Red Admiral was on the wing at the Obs.

Stonechats were today's feature birds - this was one of the two on the harbour shore © Pete Saunders:


Purple Sandpiper and Turnstone on the shore at the Bill © Geoff Orton:


12th-21st February

Still very quiet during this period before a long-awaited change in the weather brought with it a small arrival of early migrants on 19th - details below:

Gratifyingly quick response at the Bill from a few early migrants to today's first mildness: 5 Snipe, 2 Lapwings and an increase in Stonechats on the ground, a party of arriving Meadow Pipits overhead and a steady up-Channel passage of Kittiwakes offshore

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) February 19, 2025 at 10:57 AM

A Chiffchaff new in the Obs garden this afternoon - joined the long-staying overwinterer; since we're wildly optimistic and currently bathed in lovely warm sunshine we'll have this one as a new migrant!

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) February 19, 2025 at 3:27 PM

4th-11th February

Another largely uninspiring few days to report, with the year total advancing almost as slowly as the weather looked like getting out of its rut of quiet, cool conditions accompanied by the dreariest of skies. The additions consisted of just 2 Teal at Ferrybridge and a Canada Goose through off the Bill on 7th and a Blackcap at Southwell on 8th, whilst apparent new arrivals included an uptick in Linnets at the Bill to 120 on 9th (hitherto, 30-40 there throughout the winter) and 2 new Chiffchaffs at Weston on 12th. Red-throated Divers continued to pass the Bill in fair numbers with a peak of 22 on 9th, whilst all the usual wintering divers, grebes, Purple Sandpipers, Black Redstarts and the like have been about whenever anyone's looked for them.

Barn Owls continue to be a regular feature all across the island, with reports during the last week from the Bill, Weston, Penn's Weare, the Grove, the Verne Moat and the Beach Road. As we mentioned back in January, the Bill birds were for a while very reliable in broad daylight - this little video clip was from an evening when three birds were in view simultaneously from the Obs patio - but just lately their emergence time seems to have got a fair bit later © Martin Cade: 

26th January - 3rd February

A handful of firsts for the year in recent days included singles of Manx Shearwater (29th January) and Velvet Scoter (1st February) through off the Bill and a Lapwing (31st January) settled at the Bill. A mini surge in Red-throated Divers saw their highest numbers of the winter to date logged off the Bill, reaching a peak of 40 through on 29th January. Other than that there's been almost no change, with most of the regulation winterers about throughout.

The year's first butterfly - a Red Admiral - was on the wing at the Obs on 31st January; the only migrant moth during the period was a Rusty-dot Pearl settled on a lighted window at the Obs on the evening of 2nd February.

One of the 40 Red-throated Divers through off the Bill on 29th January © Martin Cade:


Black Redstart at Portland Castle © John Hansford:


After a few year's absence it's been good to discover that Badgers have been back in the Obs garden just lately - they're clearly still a bit suspicious of Jodie's trailcam but hopefully they'll soon get used to it as they have done in the past:


The photos are not going to win any prizes, but managed to get a few pics of a Bottlenose Dolphin off Portland Castle this morning. Otherwise 4 GNDiver and ~25 Shag to report from here. @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social

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— Paul Harris (@paulupwey.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 1:23 PM
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