7th May

Another lovely day to be out birding but, once again, far too nice to have expected any sort of arrival of grounded migrants. Swallows, and to a lesser extent Swifts and House Martins, were arriving in fair supply including 3 Swallows per minute during a sample half-hour count on West Cliffs; 3 Yellow Wagtails and a Hobby also passed through overhead, whilst several of the day's 10 Spotted Flycatchers were more or less visible migrants that shot through without stopping. Grounded arrivals otherwise consisted of little more than ones and twos of the most routine migrants for early May. The sea was scarcely better, with just 2 Arctic Skuas and a single Great Northern Diver through off the Bill.

Three Red-veined Darters were at the Crown Estate Field, with freshly emerged Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies also present on the pond there, confirming their presence for the fourth consecutive year.

Since they're most often found far from water, anything approaching a full census of Red-veined Darters would be a hellishly difficult undertaking but it would be fascinating to know how many have reached Portland in recent days. These are two of three that were frequenting a small corner of the Crown Estate Field this morning © Martin Cade:

this immature female scarce blue tailed damselfly probably the best looking damselfly i have seen at the crown estates field pond portland.

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— andylportland.bsky.social (@andylportland.bsky.social) May 7, 2025 at 5:24 PM