Under clear skies and with a fresh easterly blowing, the West Cliffs were always going to corner the bulk of the day's visible passage and perseverance there paid off with first a Red-rumped Swallow and later a Honey Buzzard heading through; numbers-wise, House Martins and Swallows were both moving through at around 300 per hour, with Swifts just making 100 per hour and Sand Martins still passing in the dozens; a Marsh Harrier and a Hobby also headed north, as did 12 Yellow Wagtails and several Spotted Flycatchers. Grounded arrivals hardly featured, with only Wheatear amongst the commoner migrants just about managing a double figure total at the Bill; a single Cuckoo there was the only minor oddity on offer. Despite a seemingly favourable wind direction the sea was quiet, with nothing better than 3 Great Northern Divers and an Arctic Skua through off the Bill.
Disappointment on two fronts today: for travelling listers there was the rapid realisation that the Spectacled Warbler had moved on overnight, whilst the residents were left baffled that near identical conditions to yesterday produced scarcely a sniff of a fall of new arrivals. Willow Warblers accounted for most of the numbers on the ground, but they were down to barely more than 50 at the Bill; there were no surprises amongst the very thin spread of other newcomers, with none of the other routine species getting even close to a double figure total at the Bill. Visible passage was a lot stronger, with House Martins outnumbering Swallows for periods at the Bill; 2 passing Hobbies and a single Greenshank were of note at the Bill, where 14 Yellow Wagtails amongst the back-up tally further boosted their already well above average showing this spring. For the most part the sea was quiet, with an Arctic Skua one of the few worthwhile sightings at the Bill.
A party of around 15 Bottle-nosed Dolphins lingered off the Bill for most of the evening.
A spectacularly good day started with a nice local rarity at dawn - a Hooded Crow over the Bill - progressed through yet another fine fall of common migrants and ended on something of a crescendo with the discovery of a really showy Spectacled Warbler - a first for Portland and Dorset, and evidently only the ninth for Britain - on the Slopes at the Bill. The migrant fall was again out of a clear blue sky with the brisk northeasterly headwind seemingly doing the trick for the umpteenth time this spring (...back in the 1990s chilly, easterly springs were almost uniformly dreadful for migrants - why the complete turn around these days?). The Bill area got all the coverage and came up with totals that included 200 Willow Warblers, 100 each of Wheatear and Whitethroat, 60 Blackcaps, 50 Spotted Flycatchers, 35 Sedge Warblers, 30 each of Whinchat and Garden Warbler, 25 Redstarts, 20 each of Yellow Wagtail and Chiffchaff, 15 Reed Warblers, 6 Lesser Whitethroats, 3 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Grasshopper Warblers and singles of Hobby, Tree Pipit, Ring Ouzel and Wood Warbler; there were again bags of hirundines passing through but events on the ground ensured that their numbers weren't fully quantified. The sea got some coverage but 64 Common Scoter, 8 Bar-tailed Godwits, 7 Whimbrel, 3 Red-throated Divers and 3 Great Skuas were about as good as it got off the Bill.
A really pleasant day to be birding the island, with the light northerly dropping a decent scatter of migrants everywhere. At the Bill, Willow Warblers remained dominant and racked up a total of 150, but variety-wise most of the expected later migrants put in reasonable showings: an obvious arrival of Whitethroats saw their tally top 50 for the first time this spring, whilst the likes of 12 each of Yellow Wagtail and Redstart, 10 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Corn Buntings, a Grasshopper Warbler, a Pied Flycatcher and late singles of Fieldfare and Siskin were of particular note amongst the lower totals; a similar scatter elsewhere included 3 more Pied Flycatchers and a Cuckoo. Visible passage was very heavy for a few hours during the morning when Swallows were arriving at up to 3000 per hour at the Bill. The sea got plenty of attention but returned limited rewards, with 3 Arctic Skuas and singles of Red-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver and Pomarine Skua the highlights off the Bill.
A perplexing feature of the morning were several appearances overhead of an unidentified finch. On each of its fly-bys it was called as a Serin but each time caveats were voiced that it didn't sound quite right. We'd like to think we're very familiar with the flight call of passing Serins and to our ears this otherwise typically tinkling Serin-like call immediately sounded hollow and less metallic/high pitched than usual:
With a band of rain occupying the width of the Channel - its northern boundary just a few miles off the Bill - only the most optimistic had high hopes for the day. In the event there was just enough clear weather for a small movement of Pomarine Skuas to develop, with a total of 21 tracked eastwards past viewpoints along Chesil and at the Bill; 3 Great Northern Divers, a Red-throated Diver and an Arctic Skua also sneaked by off the Bill, whilst a typical miscellany off Chesil included 3 Red-breasted Mergansers and 2 Eider amongst the selection of waders and terns. Visible passage was largely confined to a short window of opportunity through the middle of the morning, when Swallows and to a less extent House Martins streamed through on a broad front for a couple of hours and a corridor of wider variety over Weston saw a Red-rumped Swallow, 7 Yellow Wagtails and 2 Hobbies logged from one viewpoint and 50 Swifts and a third Hobby from another. By and large the land was the poor relation, with 100 or so Willow Warblers making up the bulk of the numbers at the Bill; 2 Wood Warblers in a private garden at Weston and a Grasshopper Warbler at the Bill were the only oddities reported amongst the generally thin spread of other more routine migrants, whilst a wintering Purple Sandpiper also lingered on at the Bill.
Two Risso'sDolphins lingering off Chesil for a while during the morning were a major Portland rarity; a lone Basking Shark also passed by there.
Birding was very hard work in today's blasting easterly but there were rewards to be had, with visible passage particularly conspicuous. For the second day in succession there was a strong passage of Swifts that from the evidence of a variety of sample counts likely topped 1000 for a day as a whole; Swallows looked to be running neck and neck, whilst a good many of the day's other arrivals - including 60 Willow Warblers, 50 Wheatears, 7 Yellow Wagtails, 5 Tree Pipits, 2 Cuckoos and a Wood Warbler - also headed straight through. Wader variety increased again, with 13 Bar-tailed Godwits and 3 each of Grey Plover, Knot and Sanderling among the selection grounded at Ferrybridge. Sea passage was never sustained but 16 Sanderlings, 15 Little Terns, 3 Pomarine Skuas, a Great Northern Diver and an Arctic Skua passed through at the Bill, 65 Bar-tailed Godwits and 3 Grey Plover were the best off Chesil and 3 Black Terns passed over Ferrybridge.
The surprises have been coming at a steady rate just lately and today's out-of-the-blue arrival was a Red-footed Falcon that lingered at the Bill for several hours early in the morning before heading away high to the south. Migrant-wise, the main feature of the day was the first strong arrival of Swifts, with at least 300 through at the Bill. It was much quieter than yesterday on the ground with only Wheatear and Willow Warbler returning double figure totals at the Bill, where 8 Redstarts, 6 Whinchats, a Black Redstart and a Pied Flycatcher were the pick of the fair selection of lower totals of other migrants. The sea remained very quiet, with 92 Manx Shearwaters and a lone Great Northern Diver easily the best on offer at the Bill.
Mammal-wise, a Hedgehog wandering about on the mudflats at Ferrybridge was a bizarre record.
Thus far this spring Portland's been blessed with a succession of cracking falls of migrants and today carried on in the same vein: a nice fair weather arrival saw a brisk northeasterly headwind drop a steady flow of pausing newcomers through the morning, before a build up of heavy cloud overhead towards midday ensured that many latecomers lingered for a good part of the rest of the day. The Bill area was well covered and returned totals that included 500 Willow Warblers, 100 Wheatears, 60 Blackcaps, between 25 and 40 each of Reed Warbler, Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff and Spotted Flycatcher, 10 to 15 each of Yellow Wagtail, Tree Pipit, Whinchat, Redstart, Sedge Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Pied Flycatchers, 2 each of Hobby, Whimbrel and Grasshopper Warbler, and singles of Short-eared Owl, Cuckoo, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Black Redstart. By and large, other sites visited proved to be much quieter but a pocket of action at Suckthumb Quarry provided a Cetti's Warbler and a Wood Warbler - following the apparent departure of both the Eastern Subalpine Warbler and the Dusky Warbler, the only oddities reported all day; singles of Hobby and Black Redstart at Blacknor were further noteworthy additions to the day's totals, whilst extra variety came in the form of 2 Grey Plovers, a Sanderling and a Knot amongst the waders at Ferrybridge. The freshening breeze had backed too far offshore for the sea, with 15 Sanderling, 2 Pomarine Skuas and a Great Northern Diver through off the Bill and another Great Northern Diver over Ferrybridge the only worthwhile sightings.
A little immigrant interest featured again in the moth-traps, including 11 Diamond-back Moths and a Silver Y at the Obs and 7 Silver Y and a Diamond-back Moth at the Grove.
On a gloriously sunny day there was a major surprise in the form of Portland's first spring Dusky Warbler that showed up in Top Fields; the Eastern Subalpine Warbler also remained at Cheyne Weare as the other half of a nice rarity duo. It wasn't a bumper day for routine migrants but at the Bill the spread of 150 Willow Warblers and 30 Wheatears ensured there was enough about to keep the searchers entertained; 3 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Redstarts, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and a Hobby were the best of the less frequent migrants there, whilst elsewhere a Wood Warbler was at Avalanche Road and an Egyptian Goose was a quality fly-by at Ferrybridge. With the gentle breeze veering into the southeast there were high hopes for the sea but with the notable exception of 10 Pomarine Skuas through off the Bill action was very limited.
A small arrival of immigrant moths included 3 Silver Y, 2 Diamond-back Moth and a Dark Sword Grass trapped overnight at the Obs. After yesterday's influx Red Admirals remained conspicuous everywhere, with evidence of continuing north-bound passage at the Bill.
Although there are occasional calls audible on the video footage (and if we get time we'll see what other recordings we got of them) of rather more interest in a UK context was that for a while it started half-heartedly singing:
May begun as April had ended with a band of rain spanning the Channel and rooted just to the west of the island - today it threatened a deluge but didn't ever deliver more than light drizzle before retreating away to the south. Despite the breeze being firmly offshore it was the sea that provided the best of the day's birds, with 146 Common Scoter, 30 Manx Shearwaters, 10 each of Great Skua and Pomarine Skua, 7 Arctic Skuas and singles of Balearic Shearwater and Little Gull through off the Bill and 7 Eider, 2 Arctic Skuas and a good selection of waders through off Chesil. The Eastern Subalpine Warbler lingered on at Cheyne Weare but interest on the land otherwise consisted of just a light scatter of routine migrants, amongst which 5 Whinchats and singles of Turtle Dove, Redstart, Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler were of note at the Bill.
Red Admirals increased very conspicuously and were well spread throughout the island.
