With the conditions remaining largely unchanged there was a slight case of diminishing returns among the assemblage of migrants present today, although this still left very little to complain about. Chiffchaffs were once again the most numerous migrant on the ground with 200 through at the Bill and some really big aggregations in the more extensive cover around the centre of the island; 2 Wrynecks - a reappearing bird at the Bill and a new arrival at Barleycrates Lane - provided some quality, whilst a scatter of 4 Firecrests and the autumn's first Bullfinch were amongst the decent selection of other arrivals on offer. The day's most impressive numbers were overhead, where a strong passage of c5000 House Martins provided quite a spectacle at the Bill; quantities of Meadow Pipits were oddly absent, but plenty of Swallows and Sand Martins, 60 Siskins and 2 late Swifts were amongst the other overhead movers. Hardly less impressive were the 4500 auks through off the Bill - a huge total for this early in the autumn - that dominated the returns from the sea; 550 Kittiwakes, 200 Mediterranean Gulls, 61 Common Scoter, 4 Arctic Skuas, 2 Balearic Shearwaters and singles of Shoveler and Arctic Tern provided further interest there.
Although Chiffchaffs were still really well represented on the ground, today's overhead passage was more impressive and dominated by huge multi-layered flocks of House Martins streaming through on a broad front into the continuing brisk northeasterly © Martin Cade:
Whilst there have been plenty of later records in the past, today's Swifts could well end up being the last ones we see this year © Jodie Henderson
Amongst all the hype about what a decent few days we've been having it's easy to lose sight of just how dreadful the numbers of some formerly common migrants are these days; for example, there were just four Wheatears, one Redstart and no Whinchats logged on the day-sheet today - Chiffchaff seems to be a species that's adapted to the ways of the modern world very quickly and very successfully but there are an awful lot of other things we should perhaps be really concerned for © Geoff Orton:
Same strongish NE wind early on @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social declining pm but with 18 degrees and then increased cloud. 155 birds of 14 ringed, CC 70, B'cap 23, Swallow 35, House M 4. A new Barn Owl early on and retrap Wryneck from 2 days ago popular shown by Asstant Warden, Jodie Mae Henderson.
— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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Good to know that at least some of scarcities that pitch up on godforsaken migration headlands thrive after they arrive: this Wryneck just retrapped in the Crown Estate Field has increased its weight by 12% in just two days
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 1:05 PM
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