Another increasingly warm day with hardly a breath of wind saw reduced action on all fronts, with a short spell of drizzle associated with the passing of weak weather front coming far too late to drop us an any avian surprises. With Chiffchaff and Blackcaps noticeably depleted, things felt particularly thin on the ground, with the first Black Redstart of the autumn, a handful of new Song Thrushes, the first double-figure count of Wheatears for the month and a noticeable build-up of Linnets the only worthwhile reports from the Bill. Unsurprisingly, overhead passage made up almost the entirety of the day's numbers, with 200 Goldfinch, 140 Meadow Pipits, 135 Linnet, 110 'Alba' Wagtails, 100 Swallows, 70 Chaffinch, 60 Siskin, 26 Skylark and 2 Red-throated Divers over the Bill. At sea, 2 Arctic Skua and singles of Balearic Shearwater and Pale-bellied Brent Goose were also logged.
It was good to see a sudden build-up in Linnet numbers in the stewardship crops in the Crown Estate Field - there were only a few dozen at the beginning of the week but they'd upped to more than 300 today © Martin Cade:
We had a weird little event at the Obs during the morning when two Red-throated Divers flew high overhead calling as they went; we get plenty of Red-throated Divers passing by on the sea here but we can't recollect having heard before any calling in this manner - perhaps the seawatch birds are usually inaudibly distant?). The sound recording captures three progressively louder clipped wails (the inverted Vs on the sonogram) and a single gruff sort of cross between a goose and a heron (just before the third wail) but we haven't looked up to see how these calls fit with what's known of Red-throated Diver's vocalisations © sound recording Martin Cade and photo Jodie Henderson:
Today's weak weather front passed too late to jazz up the ringing numbers at the Bill - just 69 new at the Obs/Crown Estate Field (no nos received yet from Culverwell) with the best the first Greenfinch ringed this year - before the ravages of Trichomonosis we've ringed as many as 566 in a year!...
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 10:18 PM
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...also on the ringing front, a single Redpoll took their year total to 25 (all in the last 10 days) which is a new PBO record + the first migrant Song Thrush of the autumn was trapped
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 10:24 PM
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Again, far too clear and cool overnight for successful mothing: at the Obs, a single Toadflax Pearl the best of a limited catch of migrants; an unseasonable Swallowtail was an oddity there
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 10:29 PM
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