30th October

Lots more movement today, with another heavy passage of Wood Pigeons and others overhead but also - and not before time - a strong arrival of Goldcrests on the ground; however, the show was ultimately stolen by a Siberian Stonechat discovered during the afternoon a little off the beaten track beside Weston Street. Another big movement of departing Wood Pigeons saw 36000 more logged at the Bill, where other vismig totals included 800 Jackdaws, 465 Stock Doves, 330 Goldfinches, 310 Chaffinches, 260 Meadow Pipits, 200 Starlings, 200 Linnets, 80 Skylarks, 55 Pied Wagtails, 9 Siskins, 4 Redpolls and 3 Swallows. On the ground, the first good arrival of Goldcrests of the season dominated proceedings, with perhaps as many as 200 scattered around the southern half of the island; other newcomers were surprisingly sparsely spread, with barely into double figures of each of the likes of the thrushes, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, and just 3 Firecrests. The Snow Bunting also lingered on at the Bill as did the Whimbrel at Smallmouth, whilst 3 Ring Ouzels and 2 Black Redstarts were dotted around the north of the island.

With no more than the odd single Goldcrest having been logged all autumn, it was great to suddenly see the trees alive with them today © Jodie Henderson:

The Siberian Stonechat looked to be a first-winter male (it's obviously a male just from the amount of black around the face and the blackness of the underwing coverts, whilst the contrast between, for example, the densely black alula and adjacent feathers vs the more greyish-black primary coverts would certainly suggest it's a youngster). However, beyond that it was a bit of a chameleon with its appearance changing quite dramatically in different lights (...or with different camera settings). Our perception in life was of a quite cold-coloured bird with a startlingly pale rump and we had little doubt when watching it in the field that it conformed much more closely to Siberian maurus than it did to Amur stejnegeri; that said, this isn't entirely borne out by this series of photos that show a lot of warmth/saturation in some lights, even if the rump does always look extensively very pale and largely lacking the rich apricot colour that we'd associate with a good stejnegeri. Although its field appearance can be argued over, it'd be useful to catch this bird so that its subspecific identity can be established for certain. A smart bird and still a really good rarity at Portland with only just into double figures of records ever and none for a very long time © Martin Cade:

We're really not set up to be videographers or whatever the on-trend term for the various disfunctionals/inadequates who're touting their wares about the ornithological web these days call themselves - within 15 seconds of turning our kiddie video camera on the battery died and the spare battery had no charge. Doh!