14th September

The briefest of respites from the constant wind of recent weeks was extremely welcome even if it lasted just a few hours. It did permit the most extensive coverage of the land for a while although, disappointingly, it was overhead passage rather than a flurry of grounded arrivals that provided the numbers, with 400 Meadow Pipits, 63 Yellow Wagtails, 48 Grey Wagtails, 11 Tree Pipits, 9 Chaffinches and a Marsh Harrier amongst the returns at the Bill. Meagre fare on the ground included 25 Blackcaps, 2 Reed Warblers and singles of Little Egret, Caspian Gull, White Wagtail, Garden Warbler and Pied Flycatcher at the Bill and 2 Little Stints and singles of Caspian Gull and Little Tern at Ferrybridge. Two phases of Balearic Shearwater movement off the Bill - first during the calm and later in the increasing wind of the afternoon - totalled 302, with 110 Kittiwakes and 2 Arctic Skuas amongst the also-rans there.

Red sky in the morning and all that - the old adage proved to be very prescient since dawn might have been lovely and still but by late morning the wind was howling again and it wasn't long after that before yet more rain set in © Martin Cade:

The Marsh Harrier spent a little while quartering the stewardship crops in the Crown Estate Field...

...where it did us a small favour by putting the frighteners on the Red-legged Partridge that had hitherto only been seen about four times in the four months or so that it's been here! © Martin Cade: 

The Ferrybridge Little Stints have become more obliging as their residence has continued © Joe Stockwell:

The first of today's two Caspian Gulls was a pretty standard 'sat in a field doing nothing in particular' view in the East Cliff fields below Culverwell...

...however, the views of the second bird at Ferrybridge was super useful since it was flying around for 10 minutes or more and accorded much more with the sort of long range seawatch view that we reckon we must be overlooking off the Bill; we hadn't really taken on board before quite how much they look like giant first winter Med Gulls - the white underwing coverts, crisp tail pattern, black primaries and black secondary bar all came together to convey a real Med Gull look to this bird. Nice! © Martin Cade:

Much improved overnight mothing on a calm night at the Obs although the feeling was that most of the migrant catch involved things surfacing after recent inclement weather rather than new arrivals; 9 Convolvulus Hawks the pick of the catch, 285 Rush Veneers their highest total of the year.

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 14, 2025 at 11:32 AM