A chillier start than late saw the first few rounds of the Obs garden mist-nets accompanied by crunchy frost underfoot, although this soon gave way to yet another morning of bright sunshine and balmy conditions before cloud rolled in from mid-afternoon. It's likely that this repetition in conditions was responsible for the drop-off in migrant birds present, with just 25
Chiffchaff, 15
Blackcaps and singles of
Goldcrest,
Song Thrush and
Willow Warbler logged around the Bill, with yesterday's
Ring Ouzel and the wintering
Cetti's Warbler also putting in brief appearances. Movement overhead was rather negligible but did include a
Marsh Harrier, single figures of
Swallows, a
Redwing and the year's first
House Martin. At sea, another
Long-tailed Duck was logged past the Bill, in addition to 50
Common Gulls, 35
Red-throated Divers, 15
Common Scoters and 5
Sandwich Terns whilst the first
Yellow-legged Gull of the year was present in the harbour.
The emerging spring tide sand-bars in Portland Harbour failed to offer up a Bonaparte's Gull for us this afternoon but there were plenty of fine specimens of Mediterranean Gulls in absolutely tip-top plumage on show there...
...sadly, the year's first Yellow-legged Gull wasn't so keen to exhibit itself and remained stubbornly distant © Martin Cade:
Our public enemy number one the local Raven is currently busy honing his skills for the upcoming breeding season when he'll no doubt decimate the auk and Kittiwake colony again; we're sure that the local folk who leave chicken eggs out for it are well meaning but it's hard to get beyond the fact that, ultimately, all this do-gooding is doing nothing other than hastening the demise of the seabirds - the Raven certainly doesn't need any looking after © Nick Hopper
