Sooty Shearwater still lingering offshore; Manx increased today but fewer Balearics, also 37 Common Scoter and a GNDiver thru on the sea. Quiet on the ground but a Hobby in off at the Bill, a GWEgret north along West Cliffs and a few more departing Sand Martins.
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) June 11, 2025 at 11:48 PM
After being thwarted by unsuitable conditions for three weeks good to be able to get to the Bill tip last night and catch the first 2 Storm Petrels of the summer
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) June 11, 2025 at 9:33 AM
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The Ferrybridge Little Terns seem to be doing really well this year - there have been counts of upwards of 120 birds around the colony and it's thought that at least 49 pairs are breeding © Pete Saunders:
Welcome back to the Chesil Beach Little Tern 2025 season. We are off to a flying start with our first Little Tern nests being laid on 03/05/2025. pic.twitter.com/4rujuZRsId
— Chesil Little Tern Recovery Project (@LittleChesil) June 10, 2025
Our oyster catchers have been busy this year, with two successful nests and 4 chicks running around the foreshore 🐥#spotthegreyblob
— Chesil Little Tern Recovery Project (@LittleChesil) June 11, 2025
Video credit: Alana Benjamin pic.twitter.com/A7qFisRTBH
And still on seabirdy matters, there's a lot to be cautiously optimistic about at the Bill, with Guillemots fledging young remarkably early and seemingly in good numbers, and Kittiwakes getting down to incubating in a lot of the visible nests. During an evening seawatch three evenings ago we were amazed to see a parent-less little jumpling Guillemot float rapidly past the Bill tip but, since that was by far the earliest date for successful fledging that we could find in a quick scan of a few old logs, more or less dismissed it as freakish event perhaps involving a bird that had accidently fallen from the breeding ledges. However, yesterday evening whilst setting up the nocmig recorder at the Obs we were equally surprised to hear in the distance the characteristic whinnying calls of adult Guillemots trying to entice youngsters off the cliffs - even at c500m range the calls were easily audible at the Obs:
To get a better idea of what's going on, towards dusk this evening we popped over to the cliffs and youngsters were indeed jumping in some numbers: there was just enough light to resolve the first couple of birds steaming off out to sea with one of their parents, but it was too dark by the time action reached a peak to be able to exactly quantify matters - however, we got the feel from their peeping calls gradually receding into the distance that at least a dozen young successfully fledged in the hour after sunset:
we returned to where andy had silver studded blues above the north end of hallelujah bay today and had a male & female present there
— andylportland.bsky.social (@andylportland.bsky.social) June 11, 2025 at 11:33 PM
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andy spotted this hummingbird hawk moth at rest above hallelujah bay today, only the 2nd i've seen this year in a down year for the species.
— andylportland.bsky.social (@andylportland.bsky.social) June 11, 2025 at 11:21 PM
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