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.
