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
