Plenty of movement afoot today although the majority of it concerned overhead passage and grounded arrivals were decidedly fewer than might have been hoped. The vismig over the Bill was pretty decent and included 4060
Wood Pigeons, 490
Linnets, 450
Meadow Pipits, 220
alba wagtails, 150
Skylarks, 120
Goldfinches, 110
Chaffinches, 92
Stock Doves, 62
Jackdaws, 42
Greenfinches (...remind us when we last had a total as high as this?!), 7
Siskins, 3
Bramblings and a
Woodlark. Sadly, numbers on the ground were far, far lower with 4
Long-tailed Tits, 3
Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2
Dartford Warblers, a
Corn Bunting and the lingering
Red-backed Shrike and
Cetti's Warbler the best of it at the Bill amongst the thin spread of
Blackcaps,
Chiffchaffs and other routines. Were it not for the continuing constant presence of
Bluefin Tuna, a lone
Sooty Shearwater would have stolen the show offshore.
Not that we were trying to, but this morning we inadvertently recaught the Red-backed Shrike on one of our rounds of the Crown Estate Field mist-nets; pleasingly, this revealed it has been replenishing reserves quite well and had increased its weight from 31.9g when it first arrived six days ago to 33.8g today © Martin Cade:
Portland Day 3 - Wasn't great! Although the standout highlight was the Red-backed Shrike re-trapped, my first seen in hand since a female I caught in 2013. A Corn Bunting, quite a good number of Stonechat, Robins and Dunnocks revealed some movement afoot but little esle to show for the legwork.
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— Joe Stockwell (@joestockwell.bsky.social) October 14, 2026 at 7:09 PM
After a quiet-ish few nights for migrant moths there was a big improvement last night in numbers at the Obs gdn moth-traps + a Slender Burnished Brass to the ORI lure donated to us by @alanlewiswildlife.bsky.social. Our first ever October Little Grass-moth P cerussella was an out of season oddball
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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) October 14, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Small (7mm) but perfectly formed, the Small Marbled, an immigrant moth it will breed in the UK in a hot summer #MothsMatter
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— Debra Saunders (@debbyseamist.bsky.social) October 14, 2026 at 11:50 AM
