It's not often this year that we've been able to praise the day, let alone both the day and the night as we can today. The night-time interest came in the form of a nice little catch of 7
Storm Petrels at the Bill tip - the most for us so far this summer - whilst by day a really strong passage of hirundines for so early in the autumn was quite a spectacle. The day's
Sand Martin tally might easily have been into four figures - the steady procession of 500 leaving to the south from the Bill were easy enough to deal with but the potential throughput amongst the hundreds lingered over the fields as the day wore on was more difficult to contend with; even more of a surprise were the 200 or so extremely early
Swallows amongst this passage, whilst 50
Swifts also made the score sheet. A
Serin bombing about for a while over the Obs was a long-overdue first for the Bill this year - before today, a brief single at Wakeham back in the spring had been the island's only record this year - whilst both
Yellow Wagtail and
Willow Warbler were firsts for the season at the Bill. A miscellany from the sea at the Bill included 44
Kittiwakes, 21
Common Scoter, 18
Manx and a
Balearic Shearwater, 5
Black-headed Gulls, 3
Shelducks, 3
Whimbrel and singles of
Great Crested Grebe,
Puffin and
Arctic Skua.
The Serin calling over the Obs this morning - usually so familiar a call for us but far from it this year:
A bit of the day's Sand Martin action - and inaction © Martin Cade:
And a bonus Brimstone butterfly in the Obs garden - by no means a regular sight anywhere on the island © Martin Cade:
Don't pretend to be anything like on a par with the west coast headlands and islands but another 7 Storm Petrels trapped overnight at the Bill tip was the highest total so far this summer and a decent little return for Portland these days
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) July 10, 2025 at 7:37 AM
