7th October

Today saw a rather unhelpful set of conditions to contend with as persistent bands of rain for the better half of the morning were gradually replaced by an increasingly blustery and cold northwest wind. Despite this, it was clear that the overnight rain had dropped a few migrants our way, with Chiffchaffs once again in bountiful supply as well as a single Redwing from the Obs garden and, from the comparative shelter of private gardens at Southwell and Weston respectively, new arrivals in the form of both Barred Warbler and Yellow-browed Warbler. Whilst the looming grey clouds seemed to dissuade many of the routine diurnal movers from departing over the island, several scarcer birds were recorded overhead with singles of Great White Egret, Cattle Egret, Short-eared Owl and Marsh Harrier at the Bill/Southwell. Unsurprisingly there were those that decided to stick it out in the dreary weather, with the lingering Cetti's Warbler still at Culverwell and yesterday's Hobby continuing its aerial assault on the migrant Red Admirals.

This morning's Cattle Egret over the Bill - still nowhere near frequent enough here not to demand attention © Jodie Henderson:
  

Heavy rain overnight not clearing until noon was followed by gusty N/NW winds at PBO. @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social Limited to only a few nets 32 birds eventually ringed, 22 CC, 8 Blackcap, 1 Wren & 1 Song Thrush. Crown Estate field with cover and two new ponds excavated. Hobby obs bird of the day.

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— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) October 7, 2026 at 7:30 PM

6th October

It was another busy autumnal day with a plentiful spread of new arrivals that included several on-cue firsts for the season, with 1 or more Dartford Warblers at the Bill along with singles of Redwing and Ring Ouzel in the middle of the island. Whilst Blackcap numbers appear to have waned in the recent settled weather, the same could not be said for Chiffchaffs, with 400 recorded from the Bill alone and reports of many more from the denser vegetated patches further up island. A varied list of less frequents were also on offer, with 2 Pied Flycatchers, a lingering Cetti's Warbler plus singles of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Garden Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Whinchat and Common Sandpiper present as well as 3 Woodlarks, 2 Golden Plovers and a Hobby overhead. The sea was comparatively poor, with just 15 Dark Bellied Brent Geese of note.

One of two Pied Flycatchers present around the island today © Nick Hopper:


Cloud cover at dawn PBO @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social with 179 birds of 15 species ringed. Primarily CC 132, 18 Blacap, 7 Stonechat, 2 Song Th, 1 of GardenW, GrasshopperW, Whinchat,Goldcrest & Blackbird of note +Rtrp CettisW. Pond creation at PBO haven for bathing & preening migrants,Spring& Autumn.

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— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) October 6, 2026 at 7:59 PM

Portland - First Redwing of the Autumn near The Hump. Wheatear 3, Linnet 160, Goldfinch 75 Top Fields. Chiffchaff 100+, Grasshopper Warbler Culverwell ringing station. @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

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— Dorset Bird Tours (@dorsetbirdtours.bsky.social) October 6, 2026 at 9:10 PM

Obs moth-traps quietened a little last night but still a pretty decent catch of migrants with a Toadflax Pearl catalaunalis the best of the new arrivals

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 6, 2026 at 11:43 PM

5th October

A pretty ripping morning saw a good cloud cover and no more than a waft of a breeze drop a succession of scarce migrants that included 4 Yellow-browed Warblers, a Little Bunting, a Siberian Chiffchaff and a Cetti's Warbler at the Bill and another Yellow-browed Warbler at Southwell; the long-staying Barred Warbler was also still at the Bill, whilst a further miscellany of irregulars around the island that included the likes of multiple Great Spotted Woodpeckers and singles of Hobby, Woodlark and Firecrest all added to the excitement. These goodies arrived in tandem with a hatful more Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps - including 300 and 150 respectively at the Bill alone - and lots of other grounded routine migrant variety, along with a steady if numbers-wise less impressive flow of visible migrants overhead; the tardy or interesting in other ways list from around and about included 4 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Redshanks, 2 Purple Sandpipers and singles of Golden Plover, Common Sandpiper, Whimbrel, White Wagtail and Whinchat. There were rather too many distractions for full attention to be paid to the sea but off the Bill a resurgence in departing Lesser Black-backed Gulls was noted along with the recently customary 2000 or more auks and singles of Sandwich Tern and Arctic Skua.

This morning's Little Bunting - small but very perfectly formed! © Martin Cade:




Full cloud cover and light W wind at dawn PBO. #Portlandbirdobservatory A fall resulted in 212 birds of 14 species+ 1 ssp ringed. CC 115+ SibCC, Blackcap 65,Other Sibs included Yellow browed warblers 3 and 1 Little Bunting. 7 Stonechat broke the year ringing record with 113 this year.(107 in 2025).

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— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) October 5, 2026 at 7:46 PM

A third Yellow-browed Warbler of the day - this one for @slashercutts.bsky.social at Culverwell - all these are being colour-ringed as part of a national project to track their subsequent movements

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 5, 2026 at 12:40 PM

Sadly the Sorcerers weren't on the wing for us last night but in all other respects it was an excellent night for migrant moths at the Obs, with a bumper catch of routine fare together with our second ever Southern Brindled Green + another Porter's Rustic

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 5, 2026 at 2:25 PM

...just realised we forgot to post the night's full totals

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 5, 2026 at 6:11 PM

4th October

The loveliest of days to be out birding in unbroken sunshine and summer warmth - conditions that wouldn't usually be viewed as favourable for a good drop of migrants but in the event there were birds in quantity everywhere. The trio of Meadow Pipit, Chiffchaff and Blackcap accounted for a good proportion of the groundings - reaching totals of 1000, 300 and 200 respectively at the Bill alone - but there were strong showings of good range of other arrivals amongst which shorter-range migrants such as Dunnock, Robin and Stonechat were particularly prominent; thrushes have barely figured at all so far this autumn so the first Song Thrush of the season was hopefully the vanguard of plenty more to come. Overhead passage wasn't quite so prominent with hirundines rather oddly almost completely absent, but totals of 800 Meadow Pipits, 280 alba wagtails, 200 Linnets, 65 Skylarks and 35 Chaffinches were all worthwhile at the Bill, with singles of Great White Egret and Woodlark there and 2 Bramblings and a Ring-necked Parakeet over Coombefield adding some spice. Sea interest perked up a little, with 3000 auks, 40 Dark-bellied Brent Geese and 18 Wigeon of note off the Bill.

Another Great White Egret was amongst today's overhead movers at the Bill © Jodie Henderson:


Lesser Emperors continue to be seen at the Bill - this was another posed after it had been successfully extracted from a mist-net in the Crown Estate Field © Martin Cade:

Light N wind and clear dawn saw migrant influx at PBO. @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social 245 birds of 17 species ringed. Warblers, CC 98, Blckap 76 plus 1 of Sedge, Grasshopr, Lesser W, Whitethroat,2 WW. Dunnock 8, Robin 6, Stonechat & Great T 4. Pied, Grey Wagtail plus first Song Thrush of the Autumn.

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— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) October 4, 2026 at 7:48 PM

A selection of moths today from @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social - the rare Maize Wainscot, 1 of 2 Ni Moths seen and a fine purple Purple Marbled, all of which were trapped at the observatory:

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— alanlewiswildlife.bsky.social (@alanlewiswildlife.bsky.social) October 4, 2026 at 10:43 PM

Highlights from trapping overnight 3-4/10/26 at Freshwater Bay, @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social included a pristine Brindled Ochre (now very scarce in Dorset), 4 Golden Twinspot and a worn Silver-spotted Veneer (Euchromius ocellea); also here 15+ Palpita vitrealis, 1 Bordered Straw, 3 Vestal

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— alanlewiswildlife.bsky.social (@alanlewiswildlife.bsky.social) October 4, 2026 at 10:51 PM

3rd October

A veil of light cloud overhead that marked the dreg end of a weak weather front departing very slowly southeast did us a favour today and dropped a steady arrival of a varied selection of mid-autumn migrants. Amongst the routine fare there were a couple of best-forgotten frustrations in the form of a likely non-British Yellow Wagtail flying straight through and a maybe Olive-backed Pipit heard and watched dropping into Culverwell but subsequently vanishing; scarcities that got a better grilling were limited to a presumed Siberian Lesser Whitethroat trapped at Culverwell and an Osprey departing to the south off the Bill, whilst less frequent migrants included 10 Long-tailed Tits, 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a Firecrest at the Bill and 2 Pied Flycatchers and a Woodlark around the centre of the island. Although the likes of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs weren't especially well represented there were a lot of other seasonable migrants to get amongst, including good groundings of alba wagtails and Meadow Pipits together with burgeoning flocks of off-passage Linnets and big increases in Robins and Dunnocks in particular. Overhead passage at the Bill included 700 Meadow Pipits, 220 Linnets, 130 alba wagtails, 24 Skylarks, 23 Chaffinches and 7 Greenfinches, whilst the sea remained quiet there with little more than 130 Mediterranean Gulls, a Red-throated Diver and an Arctic Skua to show.

Although there were one or two scarcer migrants on offer included the departing Osprey © Martin Cade and a couple of Pied Flycatchers © Joe Stockwell...



...today was mainly about getting amongst routine early October fare © Joe Stockwell:



Something of a really frustrating "one that got away" this morning. This Yellow Wagtail appeared to be tagging a flock of Skylark, giving quite an odd, buzzy type call, followed by more descending flava'ish calls. Immediate thought was thunbergi but sadly without better views it wasn't clinched.

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— Joe Stockwell (@joestockwell.bsky.social) October 3, 2026 at 4:13 PM

Light SSW with some overcast at PBO @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social did the trick today with 190 birds of 19 species ringed. MeadowPip 81, Bcap 30 & CC 26 predominant. 10 LTTit unusual.Good variety with Skylark, Whinchat& Firecrest. Lesser White (sib?) ReedBunt,Dunnock & Greywag completes Autumn fare.

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— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) October 3, 2026 at 8:20 PM

Couldn't manage three nights running for Maize Wainscot but overall improved migrant numbers/variety at the Obs last night. Porter's Rustic the highlight + 2 Convolvulus Hawks, Ni Moth & Golden Twin-spot.

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 3, 2026 at 1:23 PM

2nd October

No great change in our fortunes today, with overhead passage a little more conspicuous but grounded arrivals notably inconspicuous. Visible passage over the Bill included 600 Meadow Pipits, 310 Linnets and 130 alba wagtails, with 2 Merlins and a Hobby amongst the tag alongs; elsewhere, the autumn's first Redpoll was over Coombefield. The decidedly thin spread of arrivals on the ground included another autumn first in the form of a Short-eared Owl at the Bill, a Firecrest at Coombefield/Thumb Lane and a late Whimbrel at Ferrybridge but only very low totals of more routine fare; a brief Barred Warbler at the Bill was likely to be the lurking lingerer although it couldn't be established if it was a ringed bird or not. Auks and Kittiwakes totalling 1500 and 580 respectively made up most of the numbers off the Bill, with 3 Balearic Shearwaters the only particularly worthwhile sightings amongst them.

Stiffiish SW going more S overnight, with ..again a warm, sunny day did little for new birds at PBO. @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social . A tardy total of 13 birds from CEF, with 5 from the garden! in 9 hrs! Robin4, MeadpIp 6, Blakcp2, CC 3, & Swallows 3. Retrap Robins order of the day and Grey Wagtail.

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— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) October 2, 2026 at 8:44 PM

The second Maize Wainscot in two nights from the Obs moth-traps this morning.

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 2, 2026 at 9:41 AM

1st October

Sharing a first for Dorset moth (see below) was an exciting start to the day but unfortunately the bird interest wasn't at that level at all, with grounded migrants still only relatively thinly spread. There were probably a good 50 Blackcaps at the Bill where the evidence from the mist-nets suggested there was also a decent arrival of Robins, but beyond these and the now ubiquitous spread of Chiffchaffs in small numbers it was hard going, with island-wide highlights of just another Great Spotted Woodpecker and the lingering Cetti's Warbler at the Bill, singles of Hobby, Lesser Whitethroat and Pied Flycatcher around the north of the island and 11 Wigeon and a Caspian Gull at Ferrybridge. Meadow Pipits and alba wagtails dominated the overhead tally and even they weren't particularly numerous, with hirundines in particular strangely absent from the inviting-looking clear sky. Sea interest has dwindled right away as the week's gone on, with a single Arctic Skua the best of it off the Bill.

This morning's Great Spotted Woodpecker doing its Portland thing and looking completely lost on an electric pole © Martin Cade:


This morning's flock of Wigeon heading through at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:


When we checked out the identification of this second-winter Caspian Gull with Thomas Miller he suggested it might just be the similarly-aged bird he found at the Bill on 20th September - that may be case but unfortunately it only dropped in at Ferrybridge for a minute or two before dusk and we didn't actually see the same side of it that was on show at the Bill so couldn't check out the minutiae of plumage detail © Martin Cade:

Strong West winds continued througout the night and day at PBO @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social although overnight rain abated to give hot sunny 20 degrees. Slow ringing due to weather but still 51 birds of 8 species. Blacp 25, Robin 10, CC 9,Stonechat & Dunnock 2 and first Reed Bunting of the autumn.

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— Peter J Morgan (@pbo61.bsky.social) October 1, 2026 at 8:50 PM

Very happy with this: just minutes after being gripped off by news of @paulupwey.bsky.social's Maize Wainscot we find there's one in our moth-traps as well!

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 1, 2026 at 10:51 AM

Maize Wainscot records this past week. Truly amaizing! Bonchurch, Isle Wight on 23/9 (6th British record) Lewes, Sussex on 29/9 Weymouth, Dorset on 30/9 Portland Bird Obs, Dorset on 30/9 Bracklesham, W. Sussex on 30/9 Photo J. Halsey #teammoth

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— Migrant Lepidoptera (GB & Ireland) (@migrantmothuk.bsky.social) October 1, 2026 at 5:23 PM
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