14th April

The forecast weather conditions had sounded promising but the utterly different conditions that materialised - clear skies, bright sunshine and the lightest of breezes - defied expectations by dropping plenty of migrants. Willow Warblers made up the bulk of the numbers, with a good 300 at the Bill where 60 Chiffchaffs and 40 each of Wheatear and Blackcap accounted for the only other double figure totals; among the wide variety of also-rans 10 Redstarts, 4 Grasshopper Warbler, 5 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Yellow Wagtails, a Lapwing, a Common Sandpiper, a Yellowhammer and a Corn Bunting were dotted about the centre and south of the island. Sea passage never really got going but 44 Pale-bellied Brent Geese over Ferrybridge and 70 Common Scoter, 3 Red-throated Divers, 3 Eider and a Great Skua through off the Bill were of note.

Two each of Dark Sword Grass and Silver Y made up the overnight immigrant tally in the Obs moth-traps.

As an extra feature today we've invited James Phillips to run through an exciting new development that's taken shape over recent months:

The Obs has prided itself on managing the Crown Estate Field and Helen’s Fields for a number of years now to benefit migrating birds and this has been a great success. However there has always been a thought that we could get paid to do this land management through a government funded Agri-environment (AE) grant scheme.

In 2016 the observatory started to look at this more seriously to consider which AE scheme would best fit its needs and the type of land management that would most benefit migrating birds and farm wildlife associated with Portland Bill.

This was very much a team effort and I worked with Martin, Pete Morgan (Chair of the Obs Trustees), Richard Newton (Obs trustee and the Observatory’s Farming expert) and Alex Butler from the Farm Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) South West to explore how we might best achieve this.

Through the summer of 2016 we put together an application that we saw as the best fit and submitted this at the end of September 2016. We are now proud and excited to announce that Portland Bill Bird Observatory has been accepted into the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme with the CS agreement starting this year and running for the next five years.

We thought we would give you a quick summary of what we are looking to achieve through the Observatory’s new CS land management agreement:

What is Countryside Stewardship?

Countryside Stewardship (CS) is an Agri-environment government grant scheme run by Natural England on behalf of Defra which provides financial incentives for land managers to look after their natural environment through activities such as conserving and restoring wildlife habitats.

The CS scheme land management options have been specifically designed to benefit England’s wildlife habitats and the species associated with these habitats. Monitoring evidence is now showing that farmland biodiversity will respond positively if the right agri-environment options are put in the right places and at the right scale. 

Which land management options did we choose and why?

We tailored the Observatory CS agreement to put in place a package of measures to benefit the farmland birds, wild pollinators and other wildlife associated with the farmed environment at Portland Bill.

In particular we focused on the land management that provides the year-round life cycle needs (year-round food, shelter and nesting places) that these species need in order to thrive. It also includes land management options that will benefit the migrating birds that pass through Portland Bill each spring and autumn.

1. Winter Bird Food (Wild bird seed mixes):

This option will provide important food resources for farmland birds and migrating bird species, especially in autumn and winter. Pipits, thrushes, chats, warblers, finches and buntings will all benefit, with many migrants using the mixes as a valuable refueling stop in the spring and autumn.

The idea of sowing these mixes is to provide an abundant and available supply of small seeds during the autumn and winter months.

Farmland and migrating bird species will utilise the seeds from the autumn onwards and insects including bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies and hoverflies will also use the flowers in the mix during the summer.

The mixes are sown between early March and mid-June to establish a seed mix of cereals, brassicas and other plants which produce small edible seeds to meet the autumn, winter and spring food needs of the birds. The mixes once established last between one and two years and then are re-sown.

There is flexibility with the seed mixes we can use too, so we can have more cereal based mixes or more Brassica based mixes depending on the species of birds we want to attract in. The blocks of mixes can be rotated around the Crown Field and Helen’s field through the lifetime of the CS agreement.

2. Supplementary Feeding

This option provides important food resources for farmland birds in late winter and early spring on arable farmland, by supplementing crops of winter bird food when they have been depleted and before natural food sources become available in the late spring.

Species that will benefit will include species like linnet and reed bunting and may in time attract in other rarer species such as yellowhammer and corn bunting. 

The period between January and early spring is often referred to as the ‘Hungry Gap’ for farmland birds when food can be in very short supply and so providing this additional food source during this time period will be extremely beneficial to these farmland bird species.

Tailings (the small seeds and chaff removed from the harvested crop) are used as the supplementary feed and this is spread on the ground, at least once a week from early December until the end of April.

3.    Harvested low-input spring cereal

This option is used to create an open-structured cereal crop (using wheat, barley, triticale, oats or rye) which is not too dense, which then provides summer foraging sites for localised farmland birds and habitat for rare arable plants. This will be important for wild pollinator species such as bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies and hoverflies.

The resulting open nature of the crop will provide suitable habitat for nesting birds such as skylarks, and a range of declining arable plants and other broadleaved species will also benefit. The more weedy nature of the resulting stubble from the crop will also be beneficial, providing food for farmland birds and other migrating birds through the autumn months. 

This option is also rotational and can be moved around the Observatory’s land holdings each year. The Bill area holds significant breeding populations of skylarks and most of this specially managed crop will be sown in Helen Field’s to help benefit these important populations.

4.  Nectar flower mix

We included this option as we wanted to provide some areas of flowering plants to boost essential food sources to benefit pollinating insects and other invertebrate species found at the Bill.

The idea is to create an abundant supply of pollen and nectar-rich flowers between early and late summer for pollinating insects such as bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies and hoverflies and other invertebrate species.

The option works by establishing a mix of nectar-rich plants using species such as early and late flowering red clovers, sainfoin, birdsfoot trefoil, knapweed and musk mallow. The mix is established in blocks or strips between mid-March and late April or mid-July and late August. This option then remains in place for the duration of the agreement to provide a continuous long-term food source for pollinators.

As well as benefiting insects and invertebrates this habitat will also provide an important foraging habitat for breeding and migrating birds.

5. Cultivated areas for arable plants
There have been historical records of rare arable plants such as Shepherd’s Needle at the Bill. We added this option into the agreement to create uncropped, cultivated areas which would benefit a wide range of these scarce and declining arable plants, and also provide areas of less densely vegetated ground for insects and other invertebrates.

The management is simply to create fallow margins or plots annually by cultivating in the spring between February and April or in the autumn between September and November and leaving these areas in place each year. This option can be rotated and placed where we think it will benefit arable plants the most.

This then provides the bare ground habitats to help vulnerable species of arable plants such as Shepherd’s Needle to germinate and complete their life cycle. It also helps foraging insects such as bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies visiting flowers and the bare ground created and provides more open foraging habitat for farmland and migrating birds.

6. Planting new hedges

We have also added in some additional capital works into the agreement including planting new hedges in and around the Crown Estate Field.

Using native hedgerow species associated with the Isle of Portland we will plant lengths of hedgerow in and around the field to create good foraging, nesting and sheltering habitats for birds and other wildlife.

The Observatory will monitor the success of the agreement. Through the daily migrant census and the annual breeding bird survey of the PBO recording area (which has been carried out each year since the mid 1960s) we will be able to track the biological responses of the bird species and other wildlife we are targeting to the land management we are putting in place. Who knows - the land management may well fit the needs of the next autumn Pine Bunting at the Bill or even attract in the first ever Pallas’s Reed Bunting at the Bill, we can but dream…..!

Finally, I'd like to record a huge debt of thanks to Richard Newton who undertakes all the farming work on behalf of the Obs; these activities take place in Richard's own time and we've benefitted enormously from his long experience and local knowledge.

If you would like to know about the PBO CS agreement then please do drop me a line.

James Phillips (PBO Trustee)

13th April

With cloud cover not materialising until after dawn there was no repeat of yesterday's fall of migrants but there was welcome compensation in the form of a Western Subalpine Warbler that showed up on West Cliffs near the Higher Light. Depleted migrant numbers at the Bill included 50 each of Wheatear and Willow Warbler, 25 Blackcaps, 4 Redstarts, 3 Whimbrel, 2 each of White Wagtail and Tree Pipit and singles of Golden Plover, Short-eared Owl, Yellow Wagtail and Corn Bunting, with a Red-legged Partridge providing some extra novelty interest; elsewhere there was a Grasshopper Warbler at Southwell. The only reports from the sea were of 3 Red-throated Divers and a Great Skua through off the Bill.

Singles of Dark Sword Grass and Silver Y were the only immigrant moths trapped overnight at the Obs.

Although largely typically furtive the Western Subalpine Warbler showed quite well from time to time © Martin Cade:

Hardly in the same league but quite possibly rarer at Portland than the Subalpine Warbler, this Red-legged Partridge surprised us when it scuttled out at point blank range from under the bushes that the warbler first flew into - just the latest oddball in a long line of recent dodgy gamebird escapes/releases around the island! © Martin Cade:

Oil Beetles seem to be a vogue group at the moment and until recently we hadn't realised any of the species occurred at Portland (...they're probably perfectly well known here but none of the regular visitors to the Obs 'do' beetles). Emma Cockburn first mentioned she'd discovered what she believes are Black Oil Beetles at the Grove and more recently Ken Dolbear stumbled across the same species at Penn's Weare © Ken Dolbear (upper still) and Emma Cockburn (lower still and video):

12th April

Cloud cover and a chilly northwesterly came up with the goods and dropped a steady stream of new arrivals today, even if variety was nothing to shout about - for example, just 5 species accounted for all of the nearly 200 birds ringed at the Obs. The Bill area got the fullest coverage and returned totals of 400 Willow Warblers, 100 Wheatears, 75 Chiffchaffs, 25 each of Redstart and Blackcap, 6 White Wagtails and singles of Yellow Wagtail, Whinchat and Grasshopper Warbler; a Ring Ouzel at Suckthumb Quarry and singles of Garden Warbler and Pied Flycatcher at Southwell were the pick of migrants elsewhere. Although the sea was given plenty of attention 4 Red-throated Divers through off the Bill were the only sightings of note.

11th April

Still no much sign of the sort of conditions likely to drop migrants in quantity, with rarely enough cloud in the sky to even cover the sun for more than a few minutes at a time. Numbers and variety remained at a ticking-over level, with totals of 75 Willow Warblers, 30 Wheatears, 20 Chiffchaffs, 10 Blackcaps, 6 Redstarts, 3 Common Sandpipers and singles of White Wagtail, Black Redstart and Firecrest making up the bulk of the grounded tally at the Bill/Southwell; elsewhere, a Golden Plover was new at Ferrybridge. Visible passage was slower than might have been expected but did include singles of Golden Plover and Yellow Wagtail amongst the trickle of hirundines over the Bill. The breeze was again firmly from an offshore direction and sea passage included little more than 48 Common Scoter, 8 Red-throated Divers, a Whimbrel and an Arctic Skua through off the Bill.

After the relative drabness of the Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers that have made up the bulk of the numbers so far this spring, it's nice to now being seeing some Redstarts injecting a splash of colour into proceedings; this one was at Southwell this afternoon © Pete Saunders:

The first Greenland/Iceland Wheatears of the spring showed up yesterday and a couple of strapping males were trapped and ringed this morning © Martin Cade:

We didn't have time last evening to mention yesterday's 'control' Pied Flycatcher © Martin Cade:

...we won't know for a while where this bird was first ringed but, if it was ringed as a nestling, there's a strong chance it was from somewhere in Wales and the Marches: the map below shows our ringing recoveries to or from breeding sites and the cluster in that area is striking, with Powys, Gwynedd and Dyfed accounting for more than 50% of all the recoveries:

10th April

With a subtle rather than profound change in the weather - just a little more cloud in the sky and a cooler northerly replacing yesterday's southeasterly breeze - changes on the migrant front were hardly large scale. A response from Wheatears was very welcome, with more than 100 at both the Bill and Reap Lane/Barleycrates Lane going a little way toward making up the recent shortfall in their numbers. A modest arrival of other species at the Bill included 60 Willow Warblers, 20 each of Blackcap and Chiffchaff, 3 Redstarts and a Pied Flycatcher (3 wintering Short-eared Owls were also still about there), whilst elsewhere 2 Common Sandpipers were a first for the spring at Portland Harbour. Visible migrants of note included an Osprey over Weston and a Yellow Wagtail over Blacknor. The sea quietened down after yesterday's flurry, with 21 Manx Shearwaters, 5 Red-throated Divers, 2 Little Egrets and 2 Great Skuas the best on offer at the Bill.

There looked to some urgency to the Wheatears today, with many flying straight through and few of those that did pitch in lingering for long © Pete Saunders...

...and © Keith Pritchard:

This fly-by off the Bill was the latest in a minor flush of Little Egrets in recent days - we could do with one or two of the wintering Cattle Egrets tagging along as a bit of variety © Keith Pritchard:

9th April

On what's apparently going to be the last day for a while of the sunny skies and warm temperatures there was enough south in the wind to really perk up sea passage but land interest remained minimal at best. Both Chesil and the Bill were well watched through the early morning when there looked to be lots of duplication (...did fewer birds than usual take the short-cut across the beach and the harbour?), with minimum totals that included 88 Common Scoter, 44 commic terns, 34 Sandwich Terns, 18 Little Gulls, 13 Whimbrel, 8 Arctic Skuas, 6 Red-throated Divers, 6 Manx Shearwaters, 5 Brent Geese, 5 Velvet Scoter, 3 Great Skuas and 2 Wigeon. The land was very much the poor relation in terms of numbers, with the Bill coming up with just a thin scatter Blackcaps and both phylloscs, 4 Wheatears and a White Wagtail; variety elsewhere included a Marsh Harrier north over Blacknor and a Pied Flycatcher at Verne Common.

In common with a variety of usually routine migrants, White Wagtails have been noticeably few and far between so far this spring; this one was at the Bill this morning © Keith Pritchard:

8th April

Apart from a gradual freshening in the easterly breeze that took the edge of the warmth, today was a more of the same day of unbroken sunshine and few migrants. A Reed Warbler and an overflying Corn Bunting at the Bill and an Avocet at Ferrybridge were all firsts for the year but grounded routine migrants have been getting noticeably fewer by the day and really weren't at all conspicuous today. Visible passage was steady rather than spectacular and included nothing better than an unidentified harrier in off the sea at Chesil during the evening. In promising conditions the sea returned variety rather than numbers, with 102 Common Scoter, 4 Dunlin, 2 Teal and singles of Red-throated Diver, Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit through off Chesil and 60 Common Scoter, 15 commic terns and singles of Red-throated Diver, Brent Goose and Great Skua through off the Bill.

There was another brief fly-by sighting of a presumed Vagrant Emperor at Suckthumb Quarry.

The Avocet and a Whimbrel at Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:

7th April

With the seasons looking to have skipped spring and moved straight into high summer it was no surprise that grounded migrants were again at a premium on a day of cloudless skies and blazing sunshine. There was a light spread of both phylloscs and a handful of Blackcaps everywhere but Wheatear failed to register on the tally and only 2 Short-eared Owls and a Whimbrel provided any other interest at the Bill. Visible passage was lighter than might have been expected but did include a steady trickle of Swallows through at the Bill where a lone Tree Pipit also passed over. Although the breeze had backed into the east it was so light that sea passage didn't really get going: 48 Common Scoter, 7 Red-throated Divers and 2 Shelducks passed through off the Bill during the morning and 6 Teal, 2 Shoveler and a Red-throated Diver were becalmed and settled off Chesil during the evening.

In a twist to the Suckthumb Quarry Vagrant Emperor saga notification was received of a female having been seen briefly there yesterday; yesterday's other sighting had been of a male, as was the individual first reported there on Wednesday. Regular searches of the site today drew a blank.

It's got to the time of year when fly-by Shelducks are quite frequently seen off the Bill and Chesil - the majority of these sightings seem to relate to the wanderings of local breeders from the harbour breakwaters © Keith Pritchard:

For most of the duration of our evening seawatch we'd assumed that the small flock of silhouetted, becalmed ducks close inshore off Chesil but hundreds of metres to the west of us were going to be scoter but as they drifted slowly nearer we begun to appreciate that they were of two different sizes - and on shape alone the bigger ones had to be Shoveler. Having seen a group of Garganey in similar circumstances in the past we optimistically decided that the smaller ones were likely to be that species and as such would make a nice photo for the blog - it necessitated a knackering trudge along the shingle until we were way past the Little Tern colony before their true identity could be resolved as Teal! © Martin Cade:

6th April

We're not quite sure what happened to the cloud cover that was supposed to be overhead by dawn but the weather forecast was so wayward that throughout the subsequent daylight hours sightings of a cloud within more than 25 miles of the island were as infrequent as Wheatears are turning out to be. In such conditions it was no surprise that migrants were pretty thinly spread: Swallows and Linnets were passing through in their highest numbers to date, but on the ground only Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers - each numbering a few dozen at the Bill - were at all conspicuous; the Wheatear total there didn't get beyond 3, whilst 3 Short-eared Owls, 2 Redstarts and a Yellow Wagtail provided the only other interest. The breeze remained firmly offshore and sea interest was limited to 4 Red-throated Divers, a Little Egret and a Whimbrel through off the Bill.

The first Clouded Yellow of the year was on the wing at the Bill.

Despite searches on and off all day there was only one rather brief sighting of the/a Vagrant Emperor in flight at Suckthumb Quarry.

Whilst searching for the Vagrant Emperor at Suckthumb Quarry Ken Dolbear stumbled across this Dotted Bee-fly beside the main path - as far as we know this is the first record for Portland. We weren't aware that there'd been previous records of any of the bee-flys on the island, but Ken tells us that he also has a sight record of Dark-edged Bee-fly at Penn's Weare. Perhaps we've just been dopey and overlooked them but we're pretty sure that neither species occurs at the Obs (...at least not as resident insects) and it'd be interesting to get clarification of their status elsewhere around the island © Ken Dolbear:

Not that we managed to photograph it particularly successfully, but there was a nice example of sun pillar visible in the dawn sky this morning © Martin Cade:

5th April

A lower key day than yesterday but pleasant enough to be out birding in unbroken warm sunshine. The northerly breeze was probably just a bit too light to have downed migrants from the crystal clear night sky and only Blackcaps were grounded in any quantity, including at least 50 at the Bill; both phylloscs managed 20ish totals there but, as in recent days, Wheatear remained a real cause for concern with just 3 logged at the Bill. Odds and ends of interest on the ground included 4 Redstarts and singles of Ring Ouzel, Redwing and Firecrest. Meadow Pipits and hirundines trickled through overhead but, overall, visible passage was lighter than might have been expected. The only report from elsewhere concerned the spring's first Tree Pipit through over Blacknor.

A Vagrant Emperor dragonfly showed well for a short while at Suckthumb Quarry.

A Hummingbird Hawkmoth by day at the Bill and a Dark Sword Grass trapped overnight at the Obs were the only immigrant moths logged.

4th April

It's been a long time coming but finally there was a coincidence of a pulse of nocturnal migration with suitable weather conditions for a fall that saw the south of the island busy with grounded migrants; the dawn arrival of phylloscs was of fair proportions, with the arrival overhead of heavy cloud cover later in the day downing a secondary flurry of mainly Blackcaps. There was precious little coverage of the centre and north of the island, but the southern third was graced with the totals of 250 Willow Warblers and 75-100 each of both Blackcap and Chiffchaff; Wheatears were again surprisingly thin on the ground, but further variety came in the form of 4 each of Redwing and Redstart, 2 each of Whitethroat and Siskin, and singles of Hobby, Short-eared Owl (an arriving migrant that was additional to 1 or more winterers still about), Grey Wagtail, Garden Warbler, Bullfinch and Reed Bunting. Diurnal migrants weren't so well represented, although the trickle of hirundines was slightly more conspicuous than in recent days. As forecast, after the overnight rain had passed through the light breeze shifted back toward the north which killed off sea passage: 3 Red-throated Divers, a Black-throated Diver and a Manx Shearwater were the only worthwhile sightings off the Bill. Two Mute Swans were new at Ferrybridge.

Two more Dark Sword Grass were the only immigrant moths trapped overnight at the Obs.

Being always sniffy about claims of early Hobbys we were really pleased to be given a photo of the bird that by the look of it only just about managed to make landfall at the Bill this afternoon © Phil and Linda Cooper:

April seems to be one of the best months for wandering Mute Swans at Portland - these two were at Ferrybridge today © Matt Phipps:

The pair of Siskins at Southwell © Nick Stantiford:

And finally, yesterday's Gadwall off Chesil - a species that, hardly surprisingly, is rather camera-shy at Portland © Joe Stockwell:

3rd April

Although numbers were still less than impressive there was another small flurry of new arrivals around the island today. The south of the island got the best of the coverage with, much like yesterday, both Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler getting to around the 50 mark at the Bill/Southwell; variety and numbers of other migrants were otherwise pitifully low - was there really just 1 Wheatear in the whole Bill area and surely more than just 1 Swallow passed though?! - with singles of Firecrest and Bullfinch the only oddities making the list; the Hume's Warbler at Thumb Lane and 1 or more Short-eared Owls at the Bill were also still about. What sounds as though it'll be just a brief switch in wind direction saw the day's southerly breeze prove to be a disappointment for the seawatchers: Chesil came up with 7 Shelducks and singles of Gadwall, Sanderling and Yellow-legged Gull, whilst 10 Common Scoter and 2 Red-throated Divers were all that could be mustered at the Bill.

A Brindled Beauty - the first record at the Obs - was the pick of the overnight moth catch; a single Dark Sword Grass was the only immigrant trapped at the Obs.

In the same way that we'd probably get very, very excited if a Marsh Tit showed up at the Bill, so it's nice to be able to get plenty of mileage out of something like a Brindled Beauty - seemingly a pretty common and widespread moth in southern England: today's specimen was the first ever recorded at the Obs and only the third for Portland (following singles at Weston in 2011 and Sweethill in 2015); three records in just six years would seem to hint at a burgeoning 'inland' population or the sudden development of a propensity to wander - or perhaps those factors are related © Martin Cade:

2nd April

In 'almost but not quite' fair weather fall conditions phylloscs responded by dropping in slightly improved numbers, with both species getting to around 50 in the Bill area; the first Redstart of the spring also showed up there but nothing else was grounded in quantity and, despite the largely crystal clear skies, visible passage was a complete non-event. The breeze had shifted back to the northeast which limited sea passage to just 40 Common Scoter, 17 Black-headed Gulls, 2 Red-throated Divers and a Black-throated Diver through off the Bill. At least one of the Short-eared Owls was still about there and the Hume's Warbler was also still at Thumb Lane.

1st April

It was lovely day to be out looking but the current passage hiatus saw to it that migrants were still hard to get amongst. The season's first Whimbrel was an on cue arrival off the Bill but a Whinchat at Barleycrates Lane was well ahead of schedule; oddities were limited to a Marsh Harrier over the Bill, the Iceland Gull at Southwell and the Hume's Warbler still about at Thumb Lane. Numbers remained less than impressive at the Bill where Wheatear, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler all hovered around the 20 mark and there was precious little visible passage; the sea came up with variety if not numbers, including 8 Red-throated Divers, 2 Velvet Scoter and singles of Black-throated Diver and Red-breasted Merganser.

A single Painted Lady was at the Bill and a Brimstone was a good island record at Bottomcombe.

Butterflies on the wing around the centre of the island included Comma © Duncan Walbridge...

...and Speckled Wood © Ken Dolbear:

31st March

March fizzled out on the migrant front, with more seemingly perfect fall conditions - a drizzly dawn after a clear night - not delivering the goods. There was ever so slightly more about than in recent days but for the Bill at this time of year an arrival of a few dozen phylloscs and maybe just into double figures of Wheatears is way off the mark; the long-staying Iceland Gull did put in an appearance over the Obs shortly after dawn to provide a morsel of quality. Quite why visible passage has hardly featured at all in recent days remains a mystery. With so few distractions on the land the sea got plenty of attention and returned totals of 56 Common Scoter, 11 Red-throated Divers, 8 Sandwich Terns, 7 Velvet Scoter and singles of Black-throated Diver, Great Skua, Arctic Skua and Common Tern through off the Bill.

Butterfly interest included the Bill's first Red Admiral of the year, whilst 4 Dark Sword Grass and a single Silver Y constituted the immigrant moth tally at the Obs.

A bit of today's sea action - Gannets, Velvet Scoters, Great Skua and Kittiwake © Keith Pritchard:

We got a bit of a shock during the afternoon when we came across this quite startling-looking Chiffchaff in a net at the Obs; we're always vaguely on the look out for things that could just be Iberian Chiffchaffs and on cursory inspection this bird looked to tick a lot of boxes: yellow supercilium, bright green upperparts (maybe not as mossy as the famous Verne Common songster of 1999 that we did inspect in the hand, but certainly a good bit brighter than is perhaps conveyed in the somewhat sun-bleached snap below), pale based lower mandible, white belly, yellow under-tail coverts, amber legs etc - basically it looked a whole lot like a Willow Warbler but had the structure of a Chiffchaff:

By coincidence, earlier in the day we'd only just been discussing Iberian Chiffchaffs with Grahame Walbridge, who'd alerted us to a recent paper in Ardeola that evidently discredits the published discriminant methods hitherto used to distinguish the species from Common Chiffchaff. Structurally, today's bird wasn't noticeably different from Common Chiffchaff - eg 2nd = 8th - and since with a wing of 57mm it was a fair bet it was a female it was unlikely it was going to sing for us (frustratingly, it also didn't call on release). It'll be interesting to see what the genes tell us about this one © Martin Cade:

30th March

Maybe it's just that there aren't the birds about these days, but what looked to be pretty spot-on conditions spectacularly failed to deliver migrants in any quantity today: we're only one day off the date on which we had our highest ever catch of migrants at the Obs just a few years ago - 615 on 31st March 2012 - but today delivered just 4 new birds from a whole morning of trying! The light southerlies and party overcast sky certainly looked OK, but Wheatear and Chiffchaff only managed 20 apiece at the Bill and a couple of Firecrests further up-island were the only very minor oddities; the Hume's Warbler was still about at Thumb Lane, as were 6 Purple Sandpipers and a Short-eared Owl at the Bill. The sea saved the day to some extent, with 79 Common Scoter, 10 Sandwich Terns, 7 Red-throated Divers and 2 each of Great Skua and Arctic Skua through off the Bill; the Iceland Gull also did a round of the island: after being first spotted settled at Barleycrates Lane it later lingered for a while off the Bill and then showed up again at Portland Port.

Immigrant insect interest was limited to just 2 Painted Ladys at the Bill.

Arctic Skua and Iceland Gull off the Bill this morning © Keith Pritchard:

...and a Painted Lady that pitched up on the Obs patio © Martin Cade:

29th March

The high hopes accorded today proved to be well wide of the mark, with sea passage much less conspicuous than yesterday and the migrant tally on the land reduced to a level that would have been disappointing in mid-month, let alone where we are now on the cusp of April. The sea came up with what numbers there were, with 80 Common Scoter, 14 Sandwich Terns, 12 Red-throated Divers, 4 Great Skuas and a Red-breasted Merganser through off the Bill; also over the sea, an Iceland Gull was lingering during the afternoon either side of the harbour breakwater at Portland Port. The overcast skies and southwesterly breeze that followed a pulse of overnight rain looked quite promising for the land but the paltry total of just 4 Wheatears logged at the Bill were evidence enough of how the birds thought otherwise; a late afternoon pulse of phylloscs pushed Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler totals in the Bill/Southwell area to 40 and 15 respectively but there was little else of note in the passerine line; 2 Purple Sandpipers and at least 1 Short-eared Owl were also still about at the Bill.

Insect interest came in the form of a presumed Vagrant Emperor dragonfly at the Bill: with no other dragonflies on the wing at the moment and Vagrant Emperors currently appearing elsewhere in southwest England, it seems most unlikely that the dragonfly watched hawking along low cliffs near the Bill tip during a brief bright spell during the afternoon would have been anything other than this species; sadly, the significance of the sighting wasn't appreciated at the time so the insect wasn't scrutinised in detail and later searches for it in much drearier conditions drew a blank.

A single Rush Veneer was again the only immigrant moth caught overnight at the Obs.

Bird-wise, the day's only real oddity - the Iceland Gull at Portland Port - permitted only very long range views from the cliff top above East Weare © Roger Hewitt:

Skuas - including this Bonxie passing the Bill this morning - have been quite well represented for so early in the seawatching season over the last couple of days © Keith Pritchard:

Routine fare posing for the cameras included a Common Buzzard over Southwell © Pete Saunders:

...and Sparrowhawk, Purple Sandpiper and Little Owl at the Bill © Paul Hopwood:

28th March

Yesterday's vanguard of sea passage did indeed prove to be the start of better things, with far more on the move in today's gentle southwesterly; sadly, passerines didn't find these conditions to their liking and it was unexpectedly quiet both on the ground and overhead. The lion's share of the sea passage was logged at the Bill, where 357 Common Scoter, 84 Common Gulls, 15 Sandwich Terns, 14 Red-throated Divers, 9 Velvet Scoter, 8 Arctic Skuas, 4 Mediterranean Gulls and singles of Curlew, Great Skua and Yellow-legged Gull passed through and the first Puffin of the year visited the auk colony; Chesil got much less coverage but 6 of the Velvet Scoter were logged from there as well. On the ground, 3 Twite that dropped in and appeared to be settled around Fancy's Farm would have been a real crowd-puller but couldn't be found in later searches. Visible passage was reduced to a mere trickle in comparison with recent days, whilst grounded arrivals at the Bill amounted to just single figure totals of the routine early spring fare, amongst which a lingering Firecrest was about the best on offer; winterers still about included the Hume's Warbler at Thumb Lane and 4 Purple Sandpipers and a Short-eared Owl at the Bill.

A lone Rush Veneer was the only immigrant moth trapped overnight at the Obs; additionally, a March Moth was a good local record at Weston.

The sea was well worth attention for a few hours after dawn when the Velvet Scoters and Arctic Skuas were the pick of the passage © Keith Pritchard:

...we've never been quite sure why it is that on average Red-throated Divers on spring passage pass far closer to the Bill than they do when they're toing and froing in mid-winter © Martin Cade:

This March Moth from Duncan Walbridge's garden at Weston was easily the highlight from overnight mothing; it seems from the records as though this is a species that's been lost from Portland after seemingly being a transitory resident: there were no reports of it during the Victorian era (when the island was very well recorded), but we have Obs records stretching right back to 1959, with it being trapped frequently enough during the 1980s (the last was on 31st March 1987) that it was surely resident at that time. Since the female is wingless it seems hardly possible that the species colonised the island of its own accord during the first half of the 20th century - perhaps it was accidentally introduced on imported vegetation by the early Obs pioneers? © Martin Cade: