A day that would otherwise have been relegated to the annals as a weather-induced write-off ended up making the history books for all the right reasons when 2 Northern Bottlenose Whales - the first recorded at Portland - were discovered close in off the East Cliffs; the simultaneous discovery of a Rose-coloured Starling at the Bill made for an even more exciting day. In fact, the rest of the day's migration happenings were an almost complete non-event, with a Wryneck in the Obs Quarry likely to be the the lingering but extremely elusive individual from the weekend, along with only the lightest scattering of Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Wheatears by way of more routine arrivals. Overhead, a Merlin was the only notable sighting, with things faring only marginally better on the sea where a report of a Sabine's Gull via the news service was the undoubted highlight among totals of no more than 100 Kittiwakes, 10 Balearic Shearwaters and 7 Arctic Skuas also logged there.
We've subsequently learnt that the two Northern Bottlenose Whales were seen off Hastings, Sussex, a few days ago so perhaps there's slightly less concern for their welfare than might be the case with an occurrence of this usually deep-water animal so close inshore © Jodie Henderson (stills) and Martin Cade (video):
Sometimes a time and a place for a particular species gets embedded in the consciousness and for juvenile Rose-coloured Starling it has to be the Bill lighthouse cottage roof in September © Martin Cade (video) and Pete Saunders (still):
Not a bad start to September with another new moth for the garden in the form of Old world webworm thanks to Martin cade in helping with I'd. Quickly followed by 2 Northern bottlenose whales and a juv rosy starling.
— dunccrip.bsky.social (@dunccrip.bsky.social) September 2, 2026 at 4:53 PM
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Oops! Forgot the moth
— dunccrip.bsky.social (@dunccrip.bsky.social) September 2, 2026 at 4:54 PM
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