There's some really fun birding afoot at the moment, with today offering a hatful more overhead passage and some surprisingly good waterfowl movement on the sea; grounded arrivals weren't a huge feature but the first multiple arrival of Firecrests of the season was nice. In the continuing brisk and chilly northeasterly thrushes arrived in quantity for the first time this autumn, with 300 Redwings, 100 Song Thrushes, 50 Blackbirds, 10 Fieldfares, 3 Ring Ouzels and 2 Mistle Thrushes through at the Bill, where 4950 Wood Pigeons, 430 Jackdaws, 150 Chaffinches and lower totals of many of the other typical seasonable movers were logged; singles of Hobby and Lapland Bunting were the best of the oddities there, with a Crossbill over Church Ope also a first for the autumn. Ten Firecrests at Pennsylvania Castle and another 2 at the Bill were the pick of the day's grounded arrivals, with a scatter of 5 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 4 Dartford Warblers continuing their recent good runs. The sea was the day's surprise package, with 18 Dark-bellied and 2 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 15 Wigeon, 12 Shoveler, 9 Pintail, 7 Teal, a Red-breasted Merganser and a Long-tailed Duck through off the Bill.
Portland Day 7 - Another bumper day of migration with a Lapland Bunting the highlight, 3 Dartfords, loads of Redwing, Song Thrush, Blackbird, 7 Fieldfare, 2 Mistle Thrush and a Ring Ouzel, birds arriving all day up to the time I headed home, brilliant stuff! The big one still awaits...
— Joe Stockwell (@joestockwell.bsky.social) October 18, 2026 at 7:44 PM
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Just one of the 10+ firecrest seen today whilst out with paul rendell, best supporting was a male crossbill diving into the penn
— dunccrip.bsky.social (@dunccrip.bsky.social) October 18, 2026 at 10:19 PM
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