You could perhaps find fault in there not being a scarcity uncovered or the sea being very quiet but that would be being pretty churlish since today was so relatively busy with common migrants - along with being blissfully benign and summer-like - that it was a real pleasure to be out birding. Dawn itself was actually distinctly uninspiring, what with dense, low mist having developed late in the night, but this quickly burnt off and grounded migrants were soon apparent in quantity, with 200
Chiffchaffs and 100
Blackcaps topping the tally at the Bill; less frequents showing up there included yesterday's
Long-tailed Tits now increased to 10, 4
Redstarts, 2
Great Spotted Woodpeckers and singles of
Knot,
Whimbrel,
Caspian Gull,
Yellow-legged Gull,
Whinchat,
Grasshopper Warbler,
Lesser Whitethroat,
Garden Warbler and
Pied Flycatcher, with the limited coverage elsewhere revealing amongst others singles of
Great Spotted Woodpecker and
Firecrest at Church Ope Cove. Quantification of overhead passage was for a while hampered by the mist and, once visibility improved, by much of the movement taking place out over the sea, but
Meadow Pipits totalled up towards four figures as did the combined tally of the three common hirundines; the first
Reed Bunting of the autumn was also of note, whilst another 6
Grey Herons added to their burgeoning autumn tally. It was really too balmy to expect much from the sea and apart from the now constant sight of an abundance of Bluefin Tuna a single
Balearic Shearwater was the only logging of note.
Well, we enjoy looking for Caspian Gulls and unless someone comes up with any photos of anything else then you're stuck with them; this one was amongst the handful of gulls below Culverwell towards dusk this evening © Martin Cade:
A misty, murky start to the day at the Bill but plenty of migrant promise again in the mist-nets: Redstart, Whinchat, Garden Warbler and plenty of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps from the early looks
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 22, 2026 at 8:37 AM
The ringing day started off well at the Bill and carried on in that vein, with the final total of 316 the highest total of the year to date and all the better for being undertaken in millpond calm and t-shirt & shorts warmth - pretty perfect really! 84 each of CC and House Martin the top totals.
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 22, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Mothing continues to improve, with better numbers/variety of migrants overnight at the Obs. No particular surprises but a very late/second generation (first for over a month) Four-Spotted was an oddity amongst the locals.
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) September 22, 2026 at 1:58 PM
