A wide swathe of lingering rain along the Brittany and Normandy coasts seemingly put paid to our chances of quantities of grounded and overhead arrivals today. We were fortunate that one of the relatively few birds that did make it through was a
Golden Oriole that made a fleeting visit to Culverwell during the morning; providing a bit of quality back up, the Sweethill
Turtle Dove was also still about, as was a
Cuckoo in the Church Ope area, although considerably more gripping was news received later of a
Red-crested Pochard - only the second record for Portland - settled off Grove Point during the morning before flying off north. Quality and quantity were otherwise hard to come by: 30
Chiffchaffs provided the only double-figure common migrant total on the ground at the Bill where
Swallows were reduced to a trickle overhead and 3
Great Northern Divers, 2
Red-throated Diver and an
Arctic Skua were the pick of what little was on the move offshore.
Routine fare putting on good shows at the Bill include an abundance of singing Whitethroats...
...and plenty of Orange-tip butterflies © Geoff Orton:
Slightly sad state of affairs on two counts that today's green-and-yellow ringing highlight wasn't the Golden Oriole that briefly entered one of our ringing areas but this Greenfinch that's only the third ringed here this year - last year we only ringed one! Day's migrant tally down to just 36 birds
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Reduced numbers of migrant moths at the Obs last night: 71 Diamond-backs, 19 Rusty-dot Pearl, 2 Silver Y, 1 Dark Sword Grass, 1 Turnip, 1 Small Mottled Willow; Maiden's Blush a stray of interest.
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 10:24 AM
