10th April

Sadly, the daily migrant tallies have been on the slide and that pattern continued today, with poor numbers on the land and sea; overhead passage slightly redeemed things with Swallows as conspicuous they've been so far this spring and totalling well past 500 at the Bill alone. A good 40 Blackcaps was easily the best of the individual grounded totals at the Bill where 2 Common Sandpipers and a lone Redstart were the best of the less frequents; elsewhere, a Hoopoe was again in a private garden at Fortuneswell and a Bar-tailed Godwit at Ferrybridge was the first there this spring. Two singles Ospreys at either end of the day - the first over Easton and the other over Portland Harbour - were the best of the overhead migrants. Well into four figures of Manx Shearwaters passed or lingered off the Bill, with 2 Red-throated Divers and a Great Skua there and an Arctic Skua off Chesil providing the migrant highlights from the sea.

A female Redstart brightening up an otherwise dull migration day at the Obs © Martin Cade:

Extremely duff on the migrant moth front: tally at the Obs dropped to just a Small Mottled Willow and 2 each of Diamond-back, DSGrass & SY. Interesting addition for y'day: what looks like a Golden-rod Pug from our garden at the Grove - only the second Portland record and rather few other Dorset recs

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) April 10, 2026 at 8:39 AM

And back to yesterday for a few photos/videos we couldn't upload last evening due to a computer glitch. One of the day's best sightings at the Bill involved the Red-necked Grebes settled way off Pulpit Rock - there were only a few very distant record phone-scoped shots of them but the fact that these were terrible completely misses the point of them actually being really quite gripping since Red-necked Grebes are pretty rare at the Bill and have hardly ever been photographed there before...come to think of it, we're struggling to remember any photo of one from there © Kim Milsom:

Having never seen one in the spring before we were extremely keen to follow up the initial reports of a putative Caspian Gull at Ferrybridge. Oli's photographs actually turned out to be enough to confirm it but a few others from us taken in semi-darkness following a rapid dash after sunset maybe give some extra details on the upper and underwing pattern. Who'd have even thought to drop in at Ferrybridge really late in the evening in a blasting northwesterly at this time of year? - however, it just goes to show that you never can tell when there's a really good find in the offing © Martin Cade:

A 1w Caspian Gull at Ferrybridge was a very nice bonus this evening! The first one I've seen in April. Thanks to Thomas Miller and Dave Chown for helping to confirm ID @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social #ukbirding #dorsetbirds

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— Oli Mockridge (@yeovilbirder.bsky.social) April 9, 2026 at 9:17 PM

And talking of gulls, we really enjoyed a rapid return trip over to Lynch Cove on the Fleet to see our second Bonaparte's Gull in two days - a good spot of the second individual by Charlie Richards © Martin Cade: