After a blustery S wind with only a heavy shower at PBO @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social dawn was clearing but with little recompense in migrants 17 birds of 7 species 6 CC, 4 Blackap,1 LesserWT, Luckily enough plus Robin,& Blue tit for Martin to enthuse a visiting group about ringing and our work.
— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) September 30, 2026 at 8:40 PM
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30th September
Another day that promised considerably more than it produced, with the a night of southeasterlies and rain dropping no more than the thinnest of scatter of grounded migrants, whilst the airflow that originated far to south failed to act as a conveyor for insect vagrants of any quality. A couple of Firecrests around the centre of the island and a Lesser Whitethroat at the Bill were the only noteworthy arrivals on the ground and even overhead passage was surprisingly lacking once the skies cleared after dawn. In the still fresh breeze the sea was more rewarding, with 425 Kittiwakes, 17 Balearic Shearwaters, 13 Arctic Skuas, 3 Little Gulls and a Sooty Shearwater through off the Bill.
29th September
Portland was far from the best positioned UK bird observatory today and we felt no influence from the propitious weather conditions benefitting points northward. In a stiff easterly, migration slowed to a snail's pace with grounded arrivals consisting of a scatter of Blackcaps and barely more than ones and twos of other routine fare; a Pied Flycatcher at Avalanche Road was easily the pick of the discoveries. Overhead, the first push of Linnets included 490 through over the Bill where 350 Meadow Pipits and 200 Swallows made up the bulk of the rest of the movers; also overhead, 3 Glossy Ibis west over Portland Harbour were the day's highlight on all fronts. Expectations that the strength of the wind might bring the seawatchers more reward proved well wide of the mark with almost nothing worth mentioning moving off the Bill.
Strong easterly winds limited the number of mistnets opened at PBO. @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social Only 11 birds were ringed, despite seven hours on duty in the garden!! Blackcap 7, Chiffchaff 2, 1 Goldfinch and 1 Robin. In a sultry 20 degrees a day for watching Gannets & Tuna fishing offshore.
— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) September 29, 2026 at 8:19 PM
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Tuna hunting Garfish at Portland Bill today
— Phil Cheeseman@bsky.social (@philcheeseman.bsky.social) September 28, 2026 at 4:46 PM
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28th September
It was very much a classic mid-autumn day at the Bill with the lightest of northeasterly breezes and some substantial cloud cover resulting in a nice fall of grounded migrants that aside from another wodge of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps also included 50 Stonechats, 10 Sedge Warblers, 10 Willow Warblers, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, singles of Redstart, Grasshopper Warbler and Goldcrest as well as the lingering Barred Warbler; elsewhere singles of Pied Flycatcher and Garden Warbler at Thumb Lane plus multiple Firecrests at Suckthumb and Wakeham helped round off a varied list. Overhead migration remained unusually poor, with 300 Meadow Pipits the only passage of note, whilst out to sea a total of 54 Balearic Shearwaters, 7 Arctic Skuas, a Little Gull and a Great Skua were also logged. Finally, at Hamm Beach, the first 6 Dark-bellied Brent Geese of the autumn joined the lingering 2 Pale-bellied Brents.
Today was all about Chiffchaffs - again; after last autumn's excesses it seems like they're continuing their quest to inherit the Earth once the present dominant species finishes making a pig's ear of its tenure and is out of the equation © Martin Cade:
Overcast morning with light variable breeze contributed to 158 birds of 16 species ringed today at PBO. @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social . CC 72 & Blacp 56 with Sedge, Grasshopr, WWarbers, Whitethrt & Redstart other migrants leaving 1st Goldcrest of autumn with 6 Stonechat & 2 GSW added to variety.
— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) September 28, 2026 at 8:31 PM
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Long-tailed Tit are a uncommon visitor to this end of the island. #culverwell #portlandbill @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social
— Mark Cutts (@slashercutts.bsky.social) September 28, 2026 at 12:01 PM
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A few of the more interesting moths from last night’s trap
— Debra Saunders (@debbyseamist.bsky.social) September 28, 2026 at 10:58 AM
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Also from today, a gluttonous Wheatear at Ferrybridge and one of a few Wall Brown butterflies that are still on the wing © Ralph Todd:
And finally, back to yesterday for some extra photos. You'd think that in this era of lightning fast connectivity it would be possible to transmit and receive an email between Southwell and the Obs in an instant but it seems not - who knew it'd actually be quicker to send homing pigeons carrying individual pixels between the two sites. Well, Pete Saunders' photos did eventually get through to us today after being sent yesterday afternoon and they included the adult Curlew Sandpiper at Ferrybridge...
...and a few things from the morning seawatch at the Bill - two of the Teal, an Arctic Skua and a Balearic Shearwater © Pete Saunders:
27th September
The beginning of a more unsettled period of weather began today with a brisk southeasterly airflow seeing attentions largely focused out to sea, with a productive morning from the various watchpoints around the Bill recording a combined total of 3,500 auks, 45 Arctic Skuas, 30 Common Scoters, 17 Ringed Plovers, 14 Balearic Shearwaters, 14 Common Terns, 10 Manx Shearwaters, 4 Teal, 2 Arctic Tern and singles of Puffin, Sooty Shearwater, Great Skua, Red-throated Diver, Great Crested Grebe and Pochard. If any grounded passerine migrants were present, they went largely undetected hidden away in the windswept bushes, with a trickle of departing Swallows the only visible signs of migration overhead; additionally, 2 Yellow-legged Gulls were grounded on East Cliffs. Away from the Bill, another Arctic Skua was logged over the harbour, with 4 Bar-tailed Godwits and a Curlew Sandpiper present at Ferrybridge.
The chief prize from our visit to the Bill was this drake Pochard high over the top of Pulpit Rock- a hardly even annual sight out here...
...whilst amongst the more routine fare there was a nice mix of juvenile and adult Arctic Skuas...
...a trickle of Balearic Shearwaters and Common Scoters...
...and plenty of Gannets demanding attention now there's such a miscellany of boobies and tropicbirds that could be tagging along with them:
The day's multitude of auks looked to be predominantly Razorbills:
Finally, a couple of variations of first-winter Yellow-legged Gull grounded in the Culverwell gull flock this afternoon © Martin Cade:
26th September
Despite being yet another warm and sunny day, the birding was very much in contrast to yesterday, with grounded migrants providing the bulk of the day's quality and quantity whilst the skies remained strangely bereft of new arrivals. Whilst the chief excitement concerned a Barred Warbler trapped in the Obs garden, a nice showing of other migrants at the Bill included up to 250 Chiffchaffs, 150 Blackcaps, 2 Long-tailed Tits and singles of Snipe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher, Cetti's Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler and a putative Siberian Lesser Whitethroat also logged; in many ways the day's rarest sighting involved a Serin briefly heard over Helen's Fields that pitched up in the Obs garden shortly afterwards - despite being frequent here in several other months September records are almost unknown. Reports from elsewhere included 2 Pale-bellied Brent Geese at Hamm Beach and 2 Woodlarks at Coombefield. The sea ticked over with the currently customary quantities of Mediterranean Gulls and Kittiwakes but 4 Arctic Skuas were the only migrants of note.
Barred Warbler trapped at the Obs
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 26, 2026 at 8:35 AM
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Adult and juvenile Pale-bellied Brent Geese Portland Harbour this morning
— Debra Saunders (@debbyseamist.bsky.social) September 26, 2026 at 5:13 PM
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Bath time in the garden pond this morning
— Debra Saunders (@debbyseamist.bsky.social) September 26, 2026 at 5:10 PM
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Having been caught out before by the genetic analysis of autumn Lesser Whitethroats telling a different story to what the plumage features had suggested we'll refrain from proffering an opinion as to the subspecific identity of today's bird - there should be enough here for the well-informed to make their own minds up © Martin Cade:
25th September
Another quiet start in the continuing warm sunshine kicked into gear mid-morning with a fly-over Red-throated Pipit proving to be the exciting prelude to a busy period of overhead passage that saw in excess of 2000 House Martins, together with lesser totals of Swallows and Sand Martins, descend across the Bill before continuing their journey southbound. Sadly, the Red-throated Pipit was - very typically for Portland records of this most tricky to catch up with species - a blink and you miss it event, with only a lucky few within earshot as it flew westwards over the Obs. Not that there was much time to dwell on what we missed as the almost simultaneous arrival of the House Martins saw all ringers called to action for a busy couple of hours that saw 341 new birds ringed - the highest day-total since the heady days of 1985-86 when a huge catching effort saw annual totals in excess of 1500 achieved. All of this activity helped disguise the fact that it was otherwise a quiet day for migration, with a meagre tally of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps and a Common Snipe the only other grounded migrant of note. The sea fared somewhat better, with another 2,000 auks plus 19 Balearic Shearwaters, 6 Arctic Skua and a Great Crested Grebe also logged.
Rather like the proverbial biblical plague, the swarm of House Martins descended in an instant and left just as quickly © Jodie Henderson:
Clouded Yellows continue to be a constant sight throughout the island - this helice female was showing nicely on the Slopes today © Nick Hopper:
Following on from yesterday's blogpost regarding all of the recent Lesser Emperor activity, another exciting event over the last few weeks has been the discovery of multiple Large Conehead bush-crickets holding territory around the Bill. After the first island record of a single in a moth-trap back in the middle of August, there had been no further sightings by day; however, some nocturnal wanderings during the recent calm weather uncovered three singing males in the Crown Estate Field and a further individual at Culverwell. Whilst there has been no confirmation of breeding, it seems highly likely that we will see more records in the coming years as they spread outwards with a warming climate. This is the first individual from a moth-trap back on 15th August...
...with further individuals located by song at night including a more unusual brown morph individual:
24th September
Another day of lovely warmth and sunshine that, after a bright, moonlit night, did rather subdue the number of grounded migrants. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were again in the several dozen each at the Bill, but 20 Wheatears was the next highest total there and the other routine padders barely reached that total cumulatively, with a Cetti's Warbler at Culverwell the only newcomer of significance; elsewhere, the 2 Curlew Sandpipers were still at Ferrybridge. It was busier overhead although not really as busy as the conditions might have promised; Swallows totalled well into four figures but Meadow Pipits only just scraped past 400 and 4 Cattle Egrets, 3 Grey Herons, 2 Lapwings and a Hobby were the best of the oddities. The sea was again well worth attention, with 300 Kittiwakes and 200 Mediterranean Gulls a constant presence and 1000 auks, 31 Common Scoter, 12 Balearic Shearwaters, 12 Arctic Skuas and 5 Teal among the movers off the Bill.
It's sad to see the Swallows gathering before departing for another year but they were looking great against today's cloudless sky © Martin Cade:
Highlight of today was this early autumn juvenile Cetti’s Warbler. #culverwell @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social
— Mark Cutts (@slashercutts.bsky.social) September 24, 2026 at 1:51 PM
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Think it's probably a wee bit too early in the autumn to qualify yet as an Indian summer but we're loving it being so hot that we're back in flip-flops having an Al fresco lunch in the CEF whilst catching a steady trickle of Swallows - nice!
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 24, 2026 at 1:33 PM
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Although avian scarcities have been pretty thin on the ground so far this autumn we've got a lot of mileage out of various interesting bugs, not the least of which have been all the Lesser Emperor dragonflies in the last couple of weeks. Since there had been a scatter of previous island records over the last few years we'd been pretty baffled as to why we weren't seeing any at the Bill; however, an apparent influx of migrant individuals has seen them logged daily in some numbers on the warm, sunny days just lately. The vast majority of them have been seen quartering the fields rather than visiting ponds and we haven't actually managed to find a single one settled - these two individuals from yesterday and today, a male and a female, were both extracted from mist-nets and subsequently posed...
ID-wise, the only other large-ish dragonflies on the wing during this period have been Migrant Hawkers that are still pretty numerous and are much more colourful than the Lesser Emperors...
...and Emperors that are still about here and there - particularly at the pond in Yeolands Quarry - and are also much more colourful and shouldn't usually pose a problem:
However, we did come a cropper during our learning stage and had to be corrected by Phil Saunders and Brett Spencer when we assumed this drab emperor settled at Culverwell was also a Lesser Emperor (we did wonder why, amongst other things, it didn't have the thin yellow band at the top of the abdomen) but it's actually a very mature Emperor; we were fooled by the isolated blue saddle and drab abdomen and overlooked, for example, the green thorax that of course should be browner if it were a Lesser Emperor.
Since pretty well all the views of the Lesser Emperors are of them whizzing about over the fields we've been trying to get some flight photos of them to convey their usual appearance in these circumstances and on a lot of these we've been surprised how apparently greenish the sides of the thorax can look at times (per Brett, on a Lesser Emperor you'd expect to see a contrast between the green eyes and brown thorax, whereas on an Emperor they're both green) - amongst many afflictions, we are slightly colour-blind so this might just be be a personal perception issue rather than a pitfall that anyone else might want to consider © Martin Cade & Jodie Henderson:
23rd September
Another lovely warm, sunny day but rather too lovely to have expected much of an arrival of grounded migrants. In the event, it really wasn't too bad with Chiffchaff and Blackcap reaching totals of 100 and 50 respectively at the Bill alone, overhead passage chipped with a fair bit of variety and the sea was much improved after yesterday's poor showing; the first 2 Pale-bellied Brent Geese of the autumn also showed up off Hamm Beach. Variety on the ground was distinctly limited, with 2 Curlew Sandpipers at Ferrybridge easily the pick of the day's new arrivals; 2 Firecrests at Church Ope Cove were the best of the rest. Hirundines were surprisingly poorly represented overhead, but the 400 or so Meadow Pipits over the Bill had the likes of 115 alba wagtails, 42 Chaffinches and a Hobby tagging along, whilst a Great White Egret looked like it was minded to leave out to sea before chickening out. Given the benign conditions, the sea was the day's surprise package, with 2000 auks, 275 Mediterranean Gulls, 180 Kittiwakes, 26 Common Scoter, 23 Balearic Shearwaters, 4 Arctic Skuas and singles of Sooty Shearwater and Great Skua amongst others through off the Bill.
The Great White Egret - with its Little cousin trailing on behind - looked rather majestic as it trundled through the dawn sky; they're still an exciting bird to see on the island - this one was only the second of the year for us © Martin Cade:
You'd think you might be free of heat haze issues by this time in the autumn but the Curlew Sandpipers were all of a shimmer in the blazing afternoon sun at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:
Ever present at the Bill but always nice to handle and have a good close look at - this Little Owl was a dawn catch at Culverwell and the first ringed this year © Mark Cutts:
Portland this afternoon. Hamm Beach: 2 very handsome Brent geese & 2 of several Turnstones. And some of the gang at Ferrybridge: only spotted 1 Sanderling among the many Ringed plovers, & the single Knot with Ringed plover, Oystercatcher & Dunlin. #UKBirding
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