With the island right on the cusp of a profound change in conditions at sunrise - a clear moonlit night and cloudless dawn was quickly followed by a blanket of heavy cloud rolling in from the north - it was touch and go whether today would be boom or bust on the migrant front. Fortunately, a good drop of birds was soon evident and it seemed that new arrivals continued to trickle in throughout the day, with plenty of new catches in the Obs mist-nets right up until early evening. Variety was extremely limited but that was made up for by respectable totals of what there was, including 300
Willow Warblers, 100
Chiffchaffs and 30
Blackcaps at the Bill alone. Considering the numbers on the ground, overhead arrivals were surprisingly few with no more than 124
Meadow Pipits heading north along West Cliffs early doors before the passage fizzled completely. The sea ticked over with the currently customary numbers of lingering
Manx Shearwaters,
Sandwich Terns and the like but 'proper' up-Channel passage was fairly limited and included nothing better than 15
Red-throated Divers and a
Great Skua.
Today was all about Willow Warblers that made up two-thirds of the day's migrant catch at the Obs/Crown Estate Field © Martin Cade:
It being Portland where much that's routine elsewhere is a novelty for us, there was momentary excitement when these three Canada Geese flew over the Bill - likely one of the few chances in the year to get this undesirable alien on a Bill patch list © Martin Cade:
A mini spring milestone: the first 100 ringing day of the season - Willow Warblers strongly to the fore, making up three-quarters of the day's tally
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 1:36 PM
I had low expectations for last night’s moth trap, expecting a few Common Quakers. Then they I saw this Small Eggar, new for garden, no. 371 macro moth
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— Debra Saunders (@debbyseamist.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 2:13 PM
