4th August

With the murky conditions of the last couple of days well and truly cleared away by the passing of the weakest of weather fronts clear skies were the order of both the night and the day. Migrants were afforded the opportunity to make onward progress and a fair number paused at least briefly at the Bill, where 100 Willow Warblers and 30 Sedge Warblers made up the bulk of the the totals accrued from woefully inadequate coverage; a Garden Warbler and a handful of Wheatears were also logged, with 10 Sanderling the best amongst the grounded wader selection at Ferrybridge. Overhead passage wasn't as conspicuous as might have been hoped: a Honey Buzzard over Easton was the stand-out highlight, with the few pulses of hirundines through at the Bill hardly amounting to a concerted passage. Sea movement was limited but did include 4 Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Yellow-legged Gulls and a Black-tailed Godwit through off the Bill.

The clearer, fresher conditions did no favours for overnight moth-trapping, with a lone Porter's Rustic - the third of the season and the 27th record for the island - the immigrant highlight at the Obs.

The vast majority of the day's little flurry of Willow Warblers were dazzling youngsters...


...but amongst them were a few - likely mostly adults - of more subdued saturation.


Adult Linnets are looking far from their best right now - this female was right in the middle of its post-breeding moult with its still unmoulted outer primaries showing all the signs of being a year old...


...in contrast, this year's juveniles are looking really dapper with their altogether more subtle body moult not taking its toll on their looks:


For whatever reason - was it the little bit of moisture in the air at times yesterday? - there was a good hatch of flying ants this evening that in turn attracted lots of gulls; around the top of the island large gulls were to the fore but along the Beach Road and at Ferrybridge many hundreds of Mediterranean Gulls - looking really spectacular against the clear, blue sky - made up the bulk of the feeding frenzy:



Despite being a rewarding season for a range of immigrant lepidoptera this summer hasn't been much cop for Clouded Yellows so it was nice to see two lingering beside the pathways in the Crown Estate Field this morning: 


Porter's Rustic is hardly one of the most inspiring scarcities and such is its anonymity that it's surprisingly easy to overlook in a busy moth-trap - we've done it ourselves! However, once seen/learnt it does have a look all to itself...


...here's today's specimen with a Small Rufous, one of the many other species that could be construed to bear some passing resemblance to Porter's Rustic photos © Martin Cade:

3rd August

Yesterday's real murkiness might have been blown away by the fresh southwesterly but it remained predominantly overcast and on odd occasions even slightly damp - no, whatever fell definitely qualify as what we have a vague memory used to called rain. Unfortunately, these slightly propitious conditions didn't do a lot on the migrant front, with a scatter of 20 Willow Warblers the best on offer at the Bill and wader totals largely unchanged at Ferrybridge. The sea was a tad more interesting with 4 Balearic Shearwaters and 2 Yellow-legged Gulls lingering and 10 Common Scoter and a Manx Shearwater through offshore.

Despite the temperature remained well up overnight the moth catch was again very disappointing, with a stray Gorse Knot-horn Pempelia genistella (it's been a good summer for them with the combined total for all the island trap sites now into double figures) the best of the poor selection at the Obs.

Returning to last week, we'd been told that there were some question marks over the identification of this crimson underwing trapped at the Obs on the night of 29th/30th July, with the amount of white peppering on the forewing a particular concern...


...fortunately it had been retained for further inspection and on our return it only took a quick bit of manipulation to expose the hindwing and reveal a nice W of black that confirmed it as a Dark Crimson Underwing - the seventh record for the island of a moth whose range seems to be expanding at quite a rate © Martin Cade:


Portland Bill: back on home patch. Several thousand gulls in flat light offshore this evening. A large adult/-type) Yellow-legged Gull, and my first ever 2cy / 2nd summer photographed in August. 😄@PortlandBirdObs pic.twitter.com/D6GAxv1jwk

2nd August

Well, what a shocker: with the island enveloped in mizzly, swirling low cloud for the best part of the morning sightings of any sort were at a premium and even an eventual clearance revealed little of particular note. A small flurry of 25 or so Willow Warblers that had dropped in overnight at the Obs were the only passerine migrants of interest, whilst an increase to 74 in the Ringed Plover tally - along with 47 Dunlin, 7 Sanderlings and a Redshank - was an on-cue event at Ferrybridge.

Overnight mothing was as poor as it's been for many weeks with an especially lame tally of immigrants that included nothing of any particular interest.

August is certainly Ringed Plover month at Ferrybridge, with their highest totals of the year invariably coming in the next few weeks as southbound migrants bolster the small resident population (...do we actually know for sure that the local breeders remain here year-round or is that just a lazy surmise?) and the arriving winterers © Martin Cade:


Thanks to the dusking efforts of Will Soar and Sarah Morrison at Freshwater Bay we were treated today to our just about annual sight of a Beech-green Carpet at its only Dorset resort. Although it's well known that an awful lot of the speciality indigenous moths of Portland either don't occur or are surprisingly infrequent right out at the Bill we've always thought it really peculiar that Beech-green Carpet has never once been recorded in the Obs garden in getting on for 60 years of intensive light-trapping; we can understand micros with obscure habits not straying to the Bill but, at least when you see them flying in torch light, Beech-green Carpets look to be decent enough flyers and aren't at all uncommon within sight of the Obs in, for example, the East Cliff quarries © Martin Cade:

1st August

After our holiday absence (...we'll catch up with our lost week during the next few days) we returned to tap into the migration mediocrity that seems to have been the rule just lately. A small arrival of 25 grounded Willow Warblers at the Bill had in tow a lone Whinchat but seemingly precious little else beyond a likely lingering Great Spotted Woodpecker; it was busier overhead where 2 Dunlin, a Marsh Harrier and a Ringed Plover were the variety amongst 50-100 totals of both Swallow and Sand Martin, along with 20 Swifts (the local breeders of the latter look to have departed now). The grounded wader situation was hardly more rewarding, with 41 Dunlin the only worthwhile total from Ferrybridge. Fortunately the sea had considerably more to give, with another good showing of 44 Balearic Shearwaters off the Bill; 200 Mediterranean Gulls, 7 Manx Shearwaters and a Yellow-legged Gull were the best of the rest there.

On the moth front immigration picked up a little after a couple of quieter nights: 34 Dark Sword Grass at the Obs reflected their recent increase (many were in mint-fresh condition so just as likely locally-hatched rather than new arrivals), whilst 17 Turnip represented their highest total of the year to date; the second Jersey Mocha of recent nights - this one at Freshwater Bay - was the best of the rarities, with singles of Chocolate-tip and Brown-veined Wainscot noteworthy dispersers making it to the Obs.

Having got thoroughly confused as to exactly what's been going on with breeding Barn Owls this summer it's at least nice to see that those that are about have been finding rich pickings: this bird at Southwell this evening was tapping into a fleeting bonanza of voles exposed by hay cutting operations © Pete Saunders:



To begin our catching up we have to start with easily the highlight of the last week: the Purple Cloud  trapped overnight at the Obs on 28th/29th July was not only new for Portland but also new for Dorset and seemingly the furthest west one's ever been recorded in Britain... 



...a Marbled Clover - only Portland's third ever - was reduced to also-ran status on the same night (many thanks indeed to John Lucas for manning the bulk of the Obs garden moth-traps in our absence and in so doing not only maintaining the continuity of recording but also ensuring these goodies weren't missed!) © Martin Cade:

24th - 31st July

24th July
Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 40w, Balearic Shearwater 4w, Common Scoter 9e, 4w, Arctic Skua 1w, Sandwich Tern 4w, Willow Warbler 5.
Ferrybridge
Dunlin 38, Sanderling 12.

25th July
Portland Bill
Balearic Shearwater 14w, Common Scoter 6w 1e, Great Skua 1e 1w, Yellow-legged Gull 6, Sand Martin 6s, Willow Warbler1.
Ferrybridge
Dunlin 30, Sanderling 9, Knot 1 Yellow-legged Gull 1.

26th July
Portland Bill 
Balearic Shearwater 18, Whimbrel 1w, Curlew 1w, Turnstone 1n, Arctic Skua 1w, Mediterranean Gull 130w, Lesser Black-backed Gull 20w, Yellow-legged Gull 8, Herring Gull c4000etc, Sand Martin 10s, Sedge Warbler 10, Willow Warbler 50.
Ferrybridge 
Knot 1, Redshank 1.

27th July
Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 50e, Balearic Shearwater 24e 49w, Common Scoter 2e 13w, Turnstone 4, Arctic Skua 1e 1w, Mediterranean Gull 185w, Black-headed Gull 14w, Yellow-legged Gull 3, Sandwich Tern 56w, Sand Martin 12s, Wheatear 1, Sedge Warbler 2, Willow Warbler 30.

28th July
Portland Bill
Balearic Shearwater 2w, Whimbrel 1e, Arctic Skua 4w, Mediterranean Gull 100, Black-headed Gull 5w, Yellow-legged Gull 1, Sand Martin 8, Tree Pipit 1s, Sedge Warbler 1, Willow Warbler 10, Siskin 1.

Sedge Warbler at Southwell today © Debby Saunders:



29th July
Portland Bill 
Manx Shewater 42 e 2w, Balearic Shearwater 46 e, 1w, Lapwing 1, Turnstone 1, Arctic Skua 10e 1w, Mediterranean Gull c500w, Yellow-legged Gull 1, Sand Martin 40s, Swallow 200s, Grey Wagtail 1, Willow Warbler 10.

30th July
Portland Bill 
Balearic Shearwater 23e 3w, Common Scoter 14e 19w, Whimbrel 1, Arctic Skua 3e, Lesser Black-backed Gull 17w, Sand Martin 10, Swallow 100s, Grey Wagtail 1, Yellow Wagtail 1, Willow Warbler 10.

31st July 
Portland Bill
Balearic Shearwater 10w, Common Scoter 4w, Whimbrel 3w, Yellow-legged Gull 2, Willow Warbler 2.
Ferrybridge
Dunlin 26, Bar-tailed Godwit 1, Redshank 1.

Barn Owls have been a daily sight at Southwell just lately © Debby Saunders:

23rd July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 3etc, Balearic Shearwater 5etc, Common Scoter 1w, Turnstone 1n, Mediterranean Gull 750etc/w, Black-headed Gull 24w, Yellow-legged Gull 2w 2etc, Lesser Black-backed Gull 10etc, Swift 5s, Swallow 55s, Sand Martin 43s, House Martin 1s, Sedge Warbler 1, Willow Warbler 25, Grey Wagtail 1.

Ferrybridge
Dunlin 41, Sanderling 11, Knot 1, Redshank 1, Turnstone 1.

This morning's Knot at Ferrybridge © Debby Saunders:


22nd July

Portland Bill
Mallard 5e, Common Scoter 3w, Arctic Skua 1e, Mediterranean Gull 30etc, Black-headed Gull 9e 1n, Lesser Black-backed Gull 8etc, Yellow-legged Gull 1, Sandwich Tern 2e 1w, Sand Martin 23, Willow Warbler 3.

Ferrybridge
Ringed Plover 14, Dunlin 46, Sanderling 26.

21st July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 26e 17w, Common Scoter 6e 3w, Arctic Skua 4e, Mediterranean Gull c100etc, Black-headed Gull 4e, Yellow-legged Gull 3, Sandwich Tern 2w, Swift 4s, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Sand Martin c70, Wheatear 4, Grasshopper Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 2, Garden Warbler 1, Willow Warbler 10.

Weston 
Grey Wagtail 1.

Ferrybridge 
Ringed Plover 18, Dunlin 34, Sanderling 6, Black-tailed Godwit 6, Redshank 3.

Black-tailed Godwits adding some colour at Ferrybridge this morning © Debby Saunders


Common Dolphins off the Bill this evening © Martin Cade:

20th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 26w, Arctic Skua 2etc, Mediterranean Gull c50etc, Yellow-legged Gull 1, Sandwich Tern 1w, Sand Martin 10w.

Ferrybridge
Ringed Plover 17, Dunlin 45, Sanderling 4, Redshank 2.

The two Redshanks at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:


It's not often that such a well-worked place as Portland records two additions to the moth list in one night but the weather front that swept away the intense heat of the previous two days stirred things up enough that a Plumed Fan-foot dropped in at Sweethill and a Small Scallop showed up at the Obs. Although far rarer at a county level (there'd only been one previous Dorset record) it could be argued that the Plumed Fan-foot was marginally the more likely of the two to reach Portland first since it's been spreading inexorably westward after first arriving in Kent more than 25 years ago. Small Scallop is a far more widely distributed moth but is very local in Dorset where it forms no more than isolated colonies here and there in the east and north of the county and doesn't look to have much of a propensity to wander. With a back-up cast of the likes of Splendid Brocade, Scarce Bordered Straw and several Vagrant Piercer Cydia amplana it's surely most likely that these two moths arrived on the island from across the Channel rather than from elsewhere in southern England © Debby Saunders (Plumed Fan-foot) and Martin Cade (Small Scallop):




19th July

Portland Bill
Mediterranean Gull c50etc, Black-headed Gull 1e, Sand Martin 10e, Yellow Wagtail 1.

Ferrybridge
Ringed Plover 17, Dunlin 22, Sanderling 3, Curlew 1, Redshank 2, Swift 45s.

The now customary early autumn arrival of Mediterranean Gulls has seen many hundreds gathering at Ferrybridge and off the Bill; those at the former are very easy to check for rings - this juvenile from a couple of days ago had been ringed as a nesting on 26th May in Vendée, western France, and was evidently the first of this year's ringed youngsters to have been seen outside France © Debby Saunders:


Talking of ringed gulls, we've also received an update from Terry Coombs on happenings on the harbour breakwaters. An early trip to this breeding colony of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls saw 30 nestlings ringed on 15th June but, in the light of avian influenza outbreaks elsewhere, it was considered prudent to shelve plans for further visits to the colony. Among the sightings of colour-ringed birds reported from elsewhere this year, the highlights have been Portland-reared Great Black-backs (both ringed in 2012) found breeding on Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour, and on Guernsey: who knew this sort of thing happened? - we just assumed that after a few years of wandering around they'd eventually return and settle down to breed in their natal colony. Among the wanderers there's been a sighting just a few days ago of a Great Black-back at Slapton Sands, south Devon, that had been seen previously at Ostende, Belgium - the furthest east any of the Portland gulls has been sighted. Terry's blog Portland Gulls contains plenty more information about these and other sightings of colour-ringed birds from the breakwater.

18th July

Portland Bill
Mediterranean Gull 40etc, Sandwich Tern 5w.

Ferrybridge
Grey Heron 1, Ringed Plover 14, Dunlin 23, Sanderling 3, Whimbrel 1, Redshank 1.

17th July

Portland Bill
Common Scoter 7w, Mediterranean Gull 50etc, Sandwich Tern 5w, Common Tern 25etc, Swift 3s, Swallow 1s, Sand Martin 1s.

Blacknor
Cuckoo 1.

Ferrybridge
Grey Heron 1s, Dunlin 28, Sanderling 3, Curlew 2, Common Sandpiper 1, Yellow-legged Gull 1, Sandwich Tern 19, Sand Martin 21s.

Amid all the reports of disasters at tern colonies it's good to see that at least some youngsters are dropping in at Ferrybridge; it'll be interesting to learn of the origins of the colour-ringed adult accompanying some of today's arrivals © Pete Saunders:


16th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 4w, Common Scoter 5e, Ringed Plover 2e, Sanderling 6s, Mediterranean Gull 75etc, Black-headed Gull 3e 10w, Yellow-legged Gull 1etc, Sandwich Tern 5etc, Common Tern 20etc, Grey Wagtail 1.

Ferrybridge
Dunlin 48, Sanderling 1, Whimbrel 1, Curlew 1, Sandwich Tern 12 Mediterranean Gull c500.

15th July

                                  

A reminder that there's an InFocus field day at the Obs between 10am and 4pm this Sunday, 17th July.

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 25etc 5w, Mediterranean Gull 15etc, Black-headed Gull 1e 1w, Common Tern 20etc.

Ferrybridge
Little Ringed Plover 1, Mediterranean Gull 800.

With a spring tally of five on just two dates and only one before today so far this autumn, Little Ringed Plover hasn't been an easy bird to catch up with this year © Pete Saunders:

14th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 29w, Common Scoter 41w, Sanderling 3s, Whimbrel 1w, Mediterranean Gull 20w, Black-headed Gull 4e 8w, Sandwich Tern 25w, Common Tern 10w; also Black Swan 4.

Portland Harbour
Common Sandpiper 1.

Who's lost four Black Swans?...



...unringed, fully-winged - all the old guff that's always trotted-out when perfectly obvious escapes/releases turn up that just might be a tick for all the listers © Martin Cade:

13th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 13e, Common Scoter 13w, Mediterranean Gull 6w, Black-headed Gull 1.


12th July

Portland Bill
Grey Wagtail 1, Willow Warbler 1.

11th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 10etc, Whimbrel 1w, Arctic Skua 1w, Mediterranean Gull 30etc, Black-headed Gull 6, Yellow-legged Gull 1, Lesser Black-backed Gull c15etc, Sandwich Tern 1e, Swift 3s, Sand Martin 18s, House Martin 2s, Grey Wagtail 1, Blackcap 1.

Although getting more subdued now there are still plenty of Skylarks in song at the Bill © Roy Norris:


10th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 1etc, Little Egret 3n, Common Scoter 2e 5w, Mediterranean Gull 1etc, Sand Martin 3s, Reed Warbler 1.

Sweethill
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Blackcap 1, Chiffchaff 1.

Ferrybridge
Dunlin 34, Whimbrel 1, Common Sandpiper 1.

9th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 10etc, Yellow-legged Gull 1.

Ferrybridge
Dunlin 25.

8th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater c70, Balearic Shearwater 2etc 2e, Common Scoter 7w, Mediterranean Gull 5etc, Cuckoo 1, Swift 20, Sand Martin 10s, Swallow 40s, Blackcap 2, Chiffchaff 1; also Bottle-nosed Dolphin 8etc.

Ferrybridge
Black-tailed Godwit 1.

This morning's Black-tailed Godwit at Ferrybridge © Debby Saunders:


We clearly need to make spiteful comments about Storm Petrels more often: no sooner had we bemoaned how difficult it is to catch them in any numbers these days then they immediately made every effort to make us look stupid by staging an unexpected resurgence at the Bill tip last night; after six lured in quick time after dusk we then even fluked a French-ringed bird - only our second ever at the Bill © Martin Cade:


Freaks of nature rather appeal to us and today's little curiosity was this yellow-chested male Linnet; sadly, the extremely harsh light of another day of blazing hot sunshine rather burnt out the colours in our photographs so you'll have to take our word for the fact that to our eyes it really was strikingly yellow; we've seen photographs of Redpolls with their red replaced with yellow but have never seen this in the many thousands of Linnets that we've handled © Martin Cade:


It was really pleasing to see this Coast Diamond-back Rhigognostis annuatella that John Williamson brought out for us to see today - it had been trapped overnight in John's garden at Blacknor. In our early days at the Bill we used to catch annuatella annually in some numbers and more or less took it for granted; however, it then suddenly vanished rather in the manner of, for example, Dotted Rustic and Bordered Gothic, and until today we had no records of it after 1994. There are a few aspects of the biology of this species at Portland that have always puzzled us: MBGBI gives the larval foodplant as Common Scurvygrass Cochlearia officinalis and in his review of Portland lepidoptera in the Victorian era Nelson Richardson stated that "larva sometimes common on Cochlearia"; however, the Flora of Dorset states that there are no certain records of this plant for Dorset, let alone Portland. Modern sources extend the range of larval foodplants to Danish Scurvygrass (which apparently also doesn't occur on 'mainland' Portland) and Hairy Bitter-cress (which is recorded here) Whatever the upshot of this conundrum it's pleasing that annuatella clearly isn't extinct on the island even if it's presumably far scarcer than it once was © Martin Cade:


7th July


Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 83, Common Scoter 3e 5w, Whimbrel 1w, Mediterranean Gull 36w, Sandwich Tern 10w, Collared Dove 1 in-off, Swift 34, Sand Martin 17s, Blackcap 1.

Church Ope Cove 
Kingfisher 1.

Weston
Swift 180.

Ferrybridge
Dunlin 12, Sanderling 3, Common Sandpiper 2.

Portland Harbour
Shelduck pr with 6young.


Common Sandpipers and Sanderling at Ferrybridge and Peregrine at Southwell © Pete Saunders:





6th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 7w, Grey Heron 2s, Common Scoter 7w, Whimbrel 3w 1etc, Turnstone 1s, Mediterranean Gull 20etc, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Swallow 20s, Sand Martin 11s, Blackcap 1.

Sweethill
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1.

Ferrybridge 
Dunlin 5, Sanderling 3, Turnstone 5, Wheatear 1.

This morning's Sanderlings at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:


A few of the locally-bred young Common Terns are also beginning to show up at Ferrybridge © Debby Saunders:


As we might have related from time to time in recent years it seems to be getting harder and harder to catch Storm Petrels in any numbers at the Bill: in the good old days - that is getting on for 30 years ago now! - it seemed like you could almost lure them in at will and with what seemed like perfunctory effort we had single night catches of up to 32 and annual totals of up 121; these days completely blank sessions occur as often as the odd ones and twos are caught. Last night we did at least catch two even if that did take two hours of trying © Martin Cade:



The fantastic thing about Storm Petrel ringing - apart of course from the opportunities it affords for close encounters with such a great bird - is that it generates so many recoveries. Our 600 or so ringed at Portland have generated getting on for 150 subsequent recaptures by other ringers - if only we had a hit-rate like that with migrant passerines!; we'll dwell on these another day but for now Jodie's been tinkering with mapping (using Stephen Vicker's clever little recoveries mapping app) the ringing locations of the birds we've 'controlled' at Portland... 


...additional to these British and Irish movements we've also encountered birds ringed in Norway, France and Portugal. More on Storm Petrels in the next few days...

5th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 50etc, Common Scoter 1e 9w, Whimbrel 1w, Arctic Skua 1e, Mediterranean Gull 18 etc/w, Black-headed Gull 1e, Sandwich Tern 1e, Swift 30s, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Sand Martin 6s, Grey Wagtail 1, Reed Warbler 1, Chaffinch 1.

Ferrybridge
Canada Goose 1, Dunlin 8, Whimbrel 1, Redshank 1, Turnstone 1, Roseate Tern 1, Sandwich Tern 1.

Canada Goose, Whimbrel and Little Tern at Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:




Chalkhill Blue and Grayling at Tout Quarry © Roy Norris:


4th July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 175etc, Mediterranean Gull 10etc, Black-headed Gull 1e 1w Sandwich Tern 3w, Swift 31, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Sand Martin 4s.

Ferrybridge 
Dunlin 4, Sanderling 1, Whimbrel 1, Redshank 1, Roseate Tern 1.

Dispersing young Great Spotted Woodpeckers have become a customary July event in recent years © Martin Cade:


BOC Roseate Tern, Ferry-bridge, Chesil, 16:30 onwards @DorsetBirdClub @PortlandBirdObs pic.twitter.com/XSRQImErHa

3rd July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 15w, Common Scoter 6e 7w, Arctic Skua 1e, Mediterranean Gull 12 etc, Black-headed Gull 1w.

Ferrybridge
Dunlin 6, Redshank 1.

2nd July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater c700 mainly w, Grey Heron 3w, Mediterranean Gull 2w, Swift 2s, Chiffchaff 1.

1st July

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 13w, Common Scoter 10w, Arctic Skua 2w, Mediterranean Gull 3etc.
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