With migration ticking along at such a low ebb for the last few weeks it was great to tap into some real quantity today, with sustained passage overhead as well as the highest daily ringing total of the year to date. Whilst 150
Chiffchaffs and 100
Blackcaps made up the bulk of the day's grounded arrivals at the Bill, a varied supporting cast included 3
Spotted Flycatchers, 2
Whinchats and singles of
Water Rail,
Turtle Dove,
Great Spotted Woodpecker,
Redstart,
Grasshopper Warbler,
Reed Warbler and
Sedge Warbler; from a Portland perspective, a total of 8 very early
Long-tailed Tits at the Obs was one of the more unusual records from the day list. Elsewhere, a
Caspian Gull at Ferrybridge, another
Great Spotted Woodpecker at Verne Common, a
Pied Flycatcher at Coombefield and a
Firecrest at Church Ope were of note. Overhead passage was for a while after dawn dominated by
Meadow Pipits, with 3000 through over the Bill, but as the morning wore on hirundines begun to gather and eventually included 1000
House Martins and 750
Swallows; 68
alba wagtails, 20
Skylarks and a single
Siskin were their first vismig contributions of the autumn, with 9
Grey Herons and 4
Little Egrets also of interest. Sea passage was steady again, with 295
Kittiwakes, 90
auks, 21
Sandwich Terns, 10
Balearic Shearwaters, 12
Common Scoter, 10
Bar-tailed Godwits and an
Arctic Skua amongst others through off the Bill.
This spring was a bit of an outlier in providing us with quite a few good looks at Turtle Doves; ordinarily, we'd grown accustomed to being happy if our only view of one in each migration season was akin to Thomas' snatched record shots of today's bird whizzing through at the Bill © Thomas Miller:
This evening's Caspian Gull at Ferrybridge was hardly more cooperative since it took flight and headed out towards the breakwater roost within seconds of us clapping eyes on it © Martin Cade:
Lovely calm dawn at the Bill and a fair bit of migrant promise incl Water Rail, Redstart, Grasshopper Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher from the first looks at the mist-nets.
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 7:32 AM
It's been so relatively quiet this month that atrophied fingers have been been an issue for our visiting ringers but there's nothing like a good catch of House Martins to remedy that situation
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Opening at dawn means catching the migrating Water Rail. #culverwell #birdmigration @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social
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— Mark Cutts (@slashercutts.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 7:35 AM
After a hiatus in moth interest some small signs of movement afoot over the last couple of nights at the Obs: 2 Mugwort Pearls were nice after we missed out on their influx elsewhere in the SW earlier in the month; Heath Rustic, Horse Chestnut & the first Saltmarsh Knot-horn for a while also of note
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 22, 2026 at 12:50 AM
