Whilst today's blue skies and warm sunshine made it feel like we had been transported back to midsummer, the birding remained very much of the autumn variety, albeit at reduced numbers than those seen earlier in the week. The second Wryneck of the autumn trapped in the Crown Estate field was a pleasant surprise on a day when, 75 Wheatears aside, grounded migrants were so few; Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff barely reached double figures and only singles of Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher provided further interest. Whilst overhead passage ticked along with 100 Meadow Pipits, 100 Swallows, 25 Yellow Wagtails, 8 Grey Wagtails and 3 Tree Pipits logged, it was the sea which provided the bulk of the day's numbers, with an impressive post-dawn down-Channel outpouring of Kittiwakes that totaled 3,150 in 90 minutes. Variety on the sea failed to provide the same spectacle, with 20 Common Scoters, 8 Balearic Shearwaters and 4 Arctic Skua the day's only highlights. Lastly, 2 Purple Sandpipers and a Knot were present on the foreshore at the Bill.
Wader-wise, Purple Sandpipers are the shoreline staple at the Bill so an addition like this afternoon's Knot is always worthy of attention © Jodie Henderson:
Spectacular passage of Kittiwakes ongoing off the Bill - constant blizzard of them heading west already totaling well past 2500 in the hour since dawn.
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 11, 2026 at 7:22 AM
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In contrast to the sea, the only spectacle on the land this mrng is how empty the mist-nets have been; however, it only takes one and a new Wryneck from the CEF has just saved the day
— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 11, 2026 at 8:54 AM
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It was such a nice evening that we popped up to St George's Church expecting the Rose-coloured Starling to appear amongst the pre-roost gathering of Starlings; sadly it was a no-show so here's a little compilation of it from last weekend when we didn't have the right camera with us merged with some scene-setting from this evening © Martin Cade:
Also, we heard back this week regarding the ringing details of the colour-ringed Caspian Gull that was briefly amongst the East Cliffs gull flock on the evening of 29th August. It turns out this bird was ringed as a nestling on 30th May at a site in central Poland; evidently the Caspian Gull colony at the site also contains some Herring Gulls and hybrids so some dubious parentage is a possibility - although we only saw the bird in flight and ever so briefly settled we couldn't see any glaring reason to suppose it wasn't a pure Caspian Gull but who knows! Two of our previous Caspian Gulls were ringed as nestlings in The Netherlands but this one is the first from Poland © Martin Cade:
