12th August

An overnight blast of warm easterly brought with it hope of an Aquatic Warbler or a Melodious Warbler but delivered on the passerine front as near to nothing as it was possible to get, with a Garden Warbler and 2 overflying Tree Pipits the most minor of highlights amongst the tiny arrival of Sedge and Willow Warblers on the ground at the Bill; a light passage of hirundines and a late gathering of Swifts did develop in the later warm sunshine but certainly nothing to dispel the feeling that passerine migration is currently at the lowest of ebbs. Waders continued to fare a lot better with the Ferrybridge tallies early and late in the day right up to yesterday's high levels with the addition of a Little Ringed Plover, a Redshank and a departing group of 30 Common Sandpipers, whilst a brief arrival tapped into later in the morning included 5 Knot and a Curlew Sandpiper; elsewhere, the first Golden Plover of the autumn was of note at the Bill. The sea continued to tick over, with 13 Balearic Shearwaters, 3 Teal and a Great Skua the pick from the morning watches at the Bill.

A very juvenile Ringed Plover and a juvenile Little Ringed Plover at Ferrybridge this evening © Martin Cade:

Ringed Plovers - including this little flock leaving to the south - accounted for most of the evening's departing waders at Ferrybridge © Martin Cade:

Although we only managed a hugely distant record shot of it in the split second before it disappeared behind the Bill lighthouse, this leucistic Gannet with the black wing-tips replaced by hardly more than a ghosting of pale grey is a bird worth looking out for/tracking at nearby seawatch headlands; we saw what looked to be a near-identical individual - the same one? - a few years back (there is a photo of it somewhere on the blog that we couldn't lay our hands on that in a quick search this evening) but can't recollect having heard of it being seen elsewhere in the meanwhile © Martin Cade:

Despite seemingly promising conditions the moths haven't been a great deal better than the birds, with migrant numbers far lower than we've grown accustomed to at this time of year. However, a nice highlight from the Obs traps last night was this apparent Golden-rod Pug - we don't know this species but this one appears to be a dead-ringer for the book illustrations/photographs. We hadn't appreciated until we checked that Golden-rod Pug is a considerable Dorset rarity, with just three records mentioned on the county moth website; we are aware of another record that's also the only previous Portland record of one found at Cheyne Weare by a visiting moth-trapper but it would appear this report hasn't made it into the county database © Martin Cade:

11th August

In the context of routine migration at Portland thick fog's usually very unwelcome but today's peasouper - that lingered far longer than forecast - did us favours both passerine-wise and wader-wise. Waders were really well represented, with the towards 600 total at Ferrybridge easily the year's highest tally there: Ringed Plover and Dunlin on 280 and 260 apiece accounted for the bulk of the numbers, with 27 Oystercatchers, 14 Turnstones, 5 Sanderlings, 2 Redshank and a Knot providing some variety amongst the lower totals; wader variety was also a feature at the Bill, where 19 Oystercatchers, 10 Ringed Plovers, 7 Dunlin, 6 Redshanks, 3 Sanderling and a Turnstone made the roll-call. Passerines were far less numerous and weren't easy to get amongst in the dripping-wet cover but Sedge and Willow Warblers were both well into double figures at the Bill, where 3 Tree Pipits overhead were hopefully a sign of things to come in the next few weeks. Despite the often limited visibility the sea got lots of looks, with 38 Balearic, 32 Manx and a Cory's Shearwater the chief rewards at the Bill, where 35 Common Scoter, 9 Shelducks, 46 commic terns that included at least 6 Arctics, a Storm Petrel and an Arctic Skua were also logged.

Of course, it's the time of year when waders are on the move but after passing this new signage on our way to have a post-tea check of Ferrybridge this evening we were really heartened to find the mudflats not only empty of people and dogs but also rammed with birds...

...the signage has been installed - in conjunction with this Code for Birders & Wildlife Photographers - as part of the Chesil and Fleet Mitigation Partnership being developed by the guys at the Wild Chesil Centre:

Past experience from ring-readings has shown that Ferrybridge hosts waders passing through from a geographically staggeringly wide range of breeding places and staging sites so it'll be interesting to find out where this Dunlin present this evening was ringed:

With regard to this season's breeding success it's been noticeable that, perhaps with the exception of Ringed Plovers, juvenile birds still haven't been much of a feature amongst the gathering throng so it was nice to see the first young Knot of the autumn:

It was also good to see a spread of Wheatears popping up along the edge of Chesil - so far this autumn they haven't been at all numerous on our daytime stomping-ground at the Bill:

The sight of some active migration was also exciting: this group of Turnstones were super-agitated all evening - whizzing around calling loudly in between bouts of voracious feeding - and eventually as the sun was setting behind Chesil they towered up miles over the beach and struck off southwards - fantastic! © Martin Cade:

And finally, the day's novelty was this Budgie that pitched up on the rooftops of the lighthouse cottages at the Bill - hopefully this isn't as good as it's going to get for us on the land in the next few days © John Dadds:

10th August

First off, many thanks to Mark Cutts for caretakering the blog during our family holiday absence - it was really refreshing to read someone else's take on Portland happenings and, as ever, there's an open invite to anyone else to contribute guest blogs like this in the future.

Cory's Shearwaters might not qualify just yet as Portland's new Balearic Shearwater but the ongoing climate breakdown is giving them ample opportunity to take up that mantle - if the rest of the world continues to behave like trainspotters birders then they should be able to get there before too long. Today's 20 through off the Bill in pretty benign conditions marked a further gathering of momentum in their recent arrival in local waters; 30 Balearic Shearwaters, 9 Manx Shearwaters, 3 Arctic Skuas, 2 Great Skuas, a Sooty Shearwater and good quantities of departing Lesser Black-backed Gulls and passing Mediterranean Gulls were also logged by the seawatchers. The hiatus in passerine migration continued - even Willow Warblers barely got into double figures at the Bill - but waders fared slightly better with 124 Ringed Plovers, 40 Dunlin, 2 Sanderling and a Redshank at Ferrybridge and another Redshank at the Bill.

The mid-morning movement of 9 Cory's off the Bill happened so rapidly and without warning that after seeing the first few from the Obs we barely had time to get to the Bill tip before the last of them disappeared eastward. It'd be hard to draw any conclusion other than that the westward movement that developed a few hours later involved largely the same individuals but of course that can't be proved. The morning's birds were nice and close but those in the afternoon were typically a lot more distant, with this one being easily the closest:

With any luck there'll be lots more opportunities for better looks at Cory's in the next few weeks but in the meanwhile here are some decent looks that we had a couple of days ago during the course of our family holiday in Cornwall © Martin Cade:

9th August

Moderate winds this morning put pay to any thoughts of ringing. A few Willow Warblers were heard calling from the garden. Our only other report was of 6 Wheatears along the East Cliffs.
Low numbers of both Manx and Balearic Shearwaters were reported from the sea. A single Whimbrel and 15 Common Scoter were also reported.
Early news from Ferrybridge included 70 Ringed Plover, 50 Dunlin, 3 Sanderling, 1 Turnstone, 1 Common Gull and possibly one of the last remaining Little Terns of the season.  With regards to Little Terns for the last few years the last sighting date has been the 13th August, will this bird be our last of the year ?

Little Tern Pete Saunders

Portland Bill and Harbour - This morning Sanderling 2, Ringed Plover c50, Dunlin 50+, Manx Shearwater, Wheatear, Rock Pipit 7, 🦉 #birds #ornithology #seabirds #ukbirding @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social

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— Dorset Bird Tours (@dorsetbirdtours.bsky.social) Aug 9, 2024 at 17:13

 Apologies to Debbie for missing this yesterday

Roe Deer at dawn running along the Chesil, the first we've ever seen at Ferrybridge

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— Debra Saunders (@debbyseamist.bsky.social) Aug 8, 2024 at 14:19

With the warden back tomorrow this will be my last post, thank the lord I hear you all shout !
I have really enjoyed doing it and it makes me more appreciative of the effort and variety that the warden puts into each and every day. Many thanks for reading and for the (mostly) nice comments.
If your passing Culverwell and you see a battered old Ford, stop and say hi, Mark C.

 

8th August

With the wind and rain truly set in by late morning, the majority of the day's sightings were restricted to the first few hours of birdable conditions. Seawatching totals from the Bill included 1 Great Skua, 2 Arctic Skua, 23 Balearic Shearwaters and 16 Manx Shearwaters with an additional Sooty Shearwater,  8 Balearic Shearwaters and 2 Manx Shearwaters from the Cove. The Ferrybridge wader totals included 46 Dunlin, 54 Ringed Plover, 2 Sanderling and 2 Turnstone.

7th August

 

This morning proved similar to to the beginning of the week with moderate westerlies and an overcast sky.

Passerine movement was once again pretty quiet with both Willow an Sedge Warbler in small numbers. 

Grey Wagtail and Sand Martin were the only other movers of note.

The excitement once again fell to a number of Cory's Shearwaters. Counts of four or five depending on where you were standing, came into the obs throughout the morning and a couple gave really close in views. Interestingly the first record for Dorset involved three flying west at the Bill on the 19th April 1965. Manx Shearwater and Balearic Shearwater numbers were relatively low as most birds appeared to head directly south when leaving Lyme Bay. 

A juvenile Merlin was relocated in the Crown Estate Field after initially being spotted flying up the side of the garden. Earlier in the week, one of our trustees, Andy Davidson was pretty sure that he had seen one shoot through the garden but this seemed an extremely early record. Most years the first Merlins are recorded in September, very occasionally in late August.

Merlin Mark Cutts

 

6th August

The sun rose behind a thick blanket of cloud with heavy rain battering the observatory windows.
By 7am the front had passed over was replaced by light cloud and a moderate breeze. A few nets were opened with the prospect of some grounded migrants. Unfortunately that was not the case. Sedge and Willow Warbler just about making double figures and a fly over Tree Pipit the best we could do.

The sea watching saved the day with at least four Cory's Shearwaters making an appearance during the morning. Also seen were 38 Balearic and 6 Manx Shearwaters, a flock of 35 Common Scoter, an Arctic Skua and a single Whimbrel

Last month, a few us were discussing Inaturalist and various other apps that allow you to identify flora and fauna from a single image. There are pros and cons to all of these things but used sensibly they can often be spot-on with their species identification. 

For those not familiar with these nature identification apps, there are many, Google Lens, Obsidentify, Seek, PictureThis etc. They all use pattern recognition technology to analyse your image of the natural world, be it, plant, bird, bug or animal and compare it to millions of similar images on the world wide web. It then gives you it's "best guess" at the species name or sometimes just the genus or family. A lot of the time this is very dependent on the quality of the image. It combines the image with the phones built in location services ability to prioritize the results that should be present in or around that location.  

Here is a link to video tutorial of how to use to the app in the field.

Another feature of Inaturalist is the ability for others to view your image and either agree with your identification or suggest another taxa. The Inaturalist database has over 90,000 species and the developers believe that 95% of all records are identified correctly.

Within Inaturalist you can also create a project. This collates sightings from a given area or date.

 These projects just sit in the background and when a sighting is added that occurs within the designated area it is automatically added.

Thus the "Portland Biodiversity Project" was born. We decided that historic records would be too haphazard so we set the project start date for the 1st January 2024. to include any sightings on the Isle of Portland. So far it's going well. We have 75 observers who have submitted 1331 observations of 724 individual species. If you're on Portland, download the app and give it a go. 

5th August

We woke up to an overcast morning with moderate winds blowing from the South-west. This made the morning's ringing effort and birding in general pretty tough. As a result just a handful of Willow and Sedge Warbler were recorded with the strange ringing tick of the day going to a juvenile Carrion Crow. Elsewhere there were a smattering of Wheatear, a Reed Warbler and a putative Cirl Bunting late in the afternoon.
The sea didn't fair much better with just 3 Balearic  Shearwaters, 30 Mediterranean Gulls, 23 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and an Arctic Skua.

This morning's excitement began with a phone call from Pete and Debbie Saunders. They had in their Southwell garden a mega for Portland, a female Mandarin Duck ! The bird had visited briefly the night before and had re-appeared, sleeping by the side of their pond. Quickly, all of the local birders were informed and it became a race against time as builders were due at anytime to carry out work in the back garden, a few feet from the pond !

Mandarin Duck Pete Saunders

Although rather quiet on the wader front at Ferrybridge this morning, Pete Saunders did manage to get this nice image of a first year Yellow-legged Gull 

To finish on a lepidopteral note, Glenn Maddison was enjoying the afternoon sunshine around the island and managed to get some nice images of both Wall and Common Blue butterflies, which are both entering their second emergence at this time.

4th August

 A beautiful still morning on Portland meant ideal conditions for birds in the nets and the anticipation of an early Melodious or Aquatic Warbler. Alas to no avail, The days ringing effort produced 18 Willow Warblers, 14 Sedge Warblers and a single Whitethroat. Other early movers were singles of Tree Pipit and Yellow Wagtail. 
A mid-morning appearance of a Green Woodpecker was a rare sight for Portland. The bird moved around the bill area and briefly visited the obs garden where it successfully managed to avoid the nets.
A species that previously bred on the island, the only ringing record was way back in late July of 2000, when a juvenile spent a few days around the obs.

A constant seawatch effort was rewarded with an early Cory's Shearwater going east. Over 50 Balaeric Shearwaters throughout the morning, 18 Manx Shearwater, 20 Mediterranean Gulls and 53 Kittiwake. Whimbrel and Redshank were also seen. Also of note were a pod of over 30 Common Dolphin and a Harbor Porpoise.

Our own John Lucas has taken on the responsibility of checking the moth traps and he was rewarded with the first Convolvulus Hawkmoth of the year.  

                                                     Convolvulus Hawkmoth Mark Cutts

Finally Martin King has struck again ! Whilst packing his car he found this Horsefly in the obs carpark.
Talking to the warden and some of the Portland veterans they can recall no records of Horseflies being found on the island. My ID is by no means 100% certain but I believe this maybe a Band-eyed Brown Horsefly.

3rd August

For the next few days a guest blogger will be in charge of the literary reigns. With the warden and the assistant warden both taking some well earned time off I have been asked to watch over the place and as such do my best to present the daily blog.

Some regular visitors may know me, I am Mark, happily retired and very lucky to ring birds at Culverwell on a daily basis. I am also a trustee on the Observatory committee and happy to help out when needed around the lighthouse. 

Hopefully my ramblings won't spoil the constant reader's enjoyment of this blog too much. My views are my own and all facts and statements are accurate to the best of my knowledge.

With rain soon after dawn no ringing took place in any of the trapping areas. This combined with a lack of birders out bashing bushes meant that records of migrating passerines were few and far between. Just a single Willow Warbler was heard calling in the obs garden.
The main excitement of the day came in the form of a power cut which lasted from 7am to around 3pm,
as a result the lack of hot water was the main conversation topic of the morning and caused immense consternation amongst residents and visitors alike.
On the sea the recording was little better with just 5 Balearic Shearwaters, 20 Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Arctic Skuas and 3 Whimbrel.

For the moth lovers, a Small Phoenix was a first for the year.

So our thoughts turned to Portland flora and in particular the warden's recent search for Bastard Toadflax. This small flower has been seen in previous years on the slopes to the west of the Pulpit Inn. A shieldbug, Down or Bastard-Toadflax Shieldbug and a moth, Epermenia insecurella are both known associates of this plant and a few of us were keen to see all three.
After some earlier searching had proved fruitless, a small patch of the plant was found by a regular obs visitor and all round naturalist, Martin King.

Bastard Toad-flax and Autumn Lady's Tresses.  Mark Cutts

Unfortunately neither the shieldbug or the moth could be found. Plenty of Hairy Shieldbug and a single spike of a very early Autumn Lady's Tresses were both nearby but they were our only rewards.

On another entomological note, a small bush-cricket seen on the wall just inside the entry way to the observatory turned out to be only the second ever Oak Bush-cricket for Portland. The first was found on the stairs to the warden's accommodation way back in October 2021.

Oak Bush-cricket Mark Cutts

2nd August

The beginning of the end of the very hot and humid conditions of the last few days saw the breeze begin to freshen and sea interest perk up, notably in the form of a passing Cory's Shearwater off the Bill; good passages of c300 Mediterranean Gulls and 130 Kittiwakes - along with 31 Manx Shearwaters, 17 Balearic Shearwaters, 4 Arctic Skuas, 2 Common Gulls, a Sanderling and a Yellow-legged Gull - also featured there. The land continued to tick over in underwhelming fashion: Willow and Sedge Warblers made up the bulk of the low-ish numbers at the Bill, where 4 Tree Pipits, 2 Yellow Wagtails and singles of Grey Heron, Snipe, Redshank, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Reed Warbler and Garden Warbler provided some welcome variety.

Really ought to be getting a Melodious Warbler at this time but having to make do with some look-alikes this mrng: Reed W and Garden W from the Obs mist-nets were both firsts the autumn there

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) Aug 2, 2024 at 10:08

Italian Bark Moth Metalampra italica yesterday from John Lucas' garden at Southwell - a long expected first for Portland

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) Aug 2, 2024 at 8:42

1st August

Another incremental improvement to start the new month - at least for a little while early in the morning before the continuing heat saw activity diminish rapidly - saw Sedge and Willow Warblers chip in with tallies of more than 20 apiece in the vicinity of the Obs; at the same time Swallows were departing at a fair rate that eventually accumulated into their first three-figure total of the autumn. Variety wasn't a conspicuous feature on the ground or overhead, with 2 Grasshopper Warblers, a Yellow Wagtail and a Lesser Whitethroat easily the pick of the also-rans at the Bill. The waders provided a few extras, including 3 Common Sandpipers, 2 Little Ringed Plovers and 2 Black-tailed Godwits at Ferrybridge and 2 Whimbrel and an audible but unseen party of Ringed Plovers high over the Bill. Gannets continued to dominate offshore, with 481 through off the Bill where 10 Balearic Shearwaters and singles of Manx Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater and Arctic Skua provided further interest.

This evening's Little Ringed Plovers at Ferrybridge © Martin Cade:

Huge and very varied moth catches at the Obs last two nights. A Shining Marbled P. candidula last night best of the national rares, Hook-tipped Grass Moth P alpinella also last night best of the Dorset scarces; counts incl 248 Silver Y night before last & 22 amplana last night; lots of nice strays

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) Aug 1, 2024 at 17:02

31st July

No change in the freakishly hot weather but just a sniff of a few more migrants about - perhaps our needy cause was assisted by the New Moon and certainly wasn't harmed by a veil of cloud overhead for a while after dawn. Willow Warblers accounted for the bulk of the passerine arrivals, with 30 at the Bill and at least a handful elsewhere; the trickle of passing hirundines reached nearly 50 Swallows and 20 Sand Martins, whilst the odd extra Wheatear and Sedge Warbler also made the list. Other than that there was right old hotch-potch of back-up newcomers including 7 Shoveler through at Ferrybridge, an increase in Swifts (more than 50 through and several dozen lingering later in the day), 26 south-bound Lesser Black-backed Gulls and singles of Little Egret, Grey Heron, Whimbrel, Redshank and Common Gull at the Bill. The sea got long looks with a peculiarly heavy passage of 78 Black-headed Gulls through off the Bill being quite unexpected; 210 Gannets, 8 Manx and 5 Balearic Shearwaters were the best of the rest there.

Shovelers certainly aren't July regulars - this is the group that passed over at Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:

And nor are Common Gulls - especially juveniles - to be expected at this juncture:

A star bird today for the East Cliffs, Portland: a juvenile Common Gull, the only one I have ever photographed here in July. (It still counts even though it is the 31st!). pic.twitter.com/IcXhjLcZ49

— Keith Pritchard (@portlandbirder) July 31, 2024

Finally, it looks to have been a good year for Barn Owls around the island: we're aware of several breeding pairs and, having already ringed a couple of nestlings in a box at the Bill, this evening the stalwart nightshift of Mark Cutts and Verity Hill trapped their first fully-fledged youngster of the season © Martin Cade/Verity Hill:

30th July

In searing heat and unbroken sunshine that wasn't at all conducive to spending long in the field today's rewards were scant. Willow Warblers just about scraped into double figures once again at the Bill, where 5 Wheatears, a Yellow-legged Gull, a Ringed Plover and a Whimbrel were also knocking about. A Manx Shearwater passed by during what little seawatching was undertaken. A huge and widespread hatch of flying ants attracted large numbers of gulls into the sky, with the majority of the 600 or so smaller gulls visible from Ferrybridge during the evening being Mediterranean Gulls.

A little bit of moth movement was evident overnight, with the catch at the Obs including both Diamond-back and Silver Y getting into the 20s and minor oddities such as 6 Rusty Acorn Piercer and 4 Olive-tree Pearl amongst the rest of the catch.

A few Med Gulls like this one even joined the Herring Gulls hawking ants over the Obs although far larger numbers were over Hamm Beach, the Beach Road and Lower Wyke © Martin Cade:

29th July

Precious little changing at the moment - save for it getting hotter by the day. Passerine arrivals included Willow Warblers getting into double figures in the vicinity of the Obs, with the first Reed Warbler of the season at Culverwell the best of a very meagre rest. It was a little busier overhead where Swallows were noticeably more numerous than Sand Martins for the first time this autumn but even these hirundines only reached the few dozen level. Waders continued in fair numbers and variety, including 8 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plovers and a Turnstone through at the Bill, where sea interest came in the form of a big increase in lingering Mediterranean Gulls, 26 Common Scoter still offshore and 15 Manx Shearwaters, 5 Balearic Shearwaters and 2 Arctic Skuas through.

Dunlins and Sanderlings at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:

🪶With a minimum count of 37 fledglings we've waved farewell to the Little Terns this week as they've set off on their epic migration back to West Africa! We will miss their calls but wish them luck, until we see them return next season🙏🩵 @ATChesi pic.twitter.com/4cOcn0AEcM

— Chesil Little Tern Recovery Project (@LittleChesil) July 29, 2024

28th July

Still way too fine - and increasingly hot - for much action on the migrant front. Overhead movement did include 18 Sand Martins through at Ferrybridge and 50 Swallows and 40 Sand Martins leaving from the Bill, whilst many of the other Swifts and Swallows scooting about less purposefully over the fields doubtless eventually departed unseen; 3 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plovers and singles of Grey Heron, Turnstone and Yellow Wagtail were also overhead at the Bill. Grounded arrivals there included 10 Willow Warblers and at least 2 extra Wheatears, whilst the long-staying Great Spotted Woodpecker was also still about. There wasn't much change on the wader front at Ferrybridge beyond an increase to 43 in the Ringed Plover tally. Eight Manx Shearwaters through off the Bill hardly constituted a surge in sea interest.

This colour-ringed Sanderling was new in at Ferrybridge - details when they're received...

...the Knot was also continuing to fuel-up there © Pete Saunders:

On 3rd July Martin ringed six Storm Petrel @PortlandBirdObs, two of which were here on the 13th and another of which was here last night. Three to go... pic.twitter.com/1RqPveIGmw

— Skokholm Island (@SkokholmIsland) July 28, 2024

27th July

With the weather having settled right down conditions have suddenly become very helpful for early migrants leaving the country but far from useful for anyone wanting to see any of them drop on the coast. There was a thin sprinkle of the usual hirundines, Wheatears, Sedge Warblers and Willow Warblers grounded or overhead at the Bill but only Sand Martins got appreciably into double figures. Less regulars there included a Cattle Egret arriving with 4 Little Egrets, a Marsh Harrier that drifted away north, 2 Yellow Wagtails and a Great Spotted Woodpecker; Cormorants were also on the move with 10 over Ferrybridge and 3 south over the Bill, whilst a single Yellow-legged Gull arrived from the south at the Bill. The wader selection at Ferrybridge was varied, with 12 Sanderling, 2 Redshanks and singles of Knot, Greenshank and Black-tailed Godwit the best on offer. Seawatching offerings, however, were again almost non-existent

Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank © Pete Saunders and Knot © Debby Saunders at Ferrybridge this morning:

It's the season for Wasp Spiders to put on a show - this one was at Culverwell © Steve Mansfield:

26th July

Despite the clear sky and benign conditions there was a small arrival of migrants uncovered by the few observers out looking today. Willow Warblers crept into double figures for the first time this autumn at the Bill, where 20 Sand Martins, 3 Sedge Warblers, 2 Whimbrel and singles of Turnstone, Yellow-legged Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Wheatear also showed up. Nothing of any consequence was reported from the sea there. Ten Sanderling, a Knot and a Whimbrel were amongst the waders at Ferrybridge.

The Knot at Ferrybridge - a nice looker in the dawn sun © Pete Saunders:

This morning's Great Spotted Woodpecker - always a peculiar sight in full flight over the Bill... 

...adult (above) and juvenile (below) Sedge Warblers - we sometimes have to try harder to tell some look-alike species apart then we do to distinguish the two age-classes of Sedge Warbler at this time of year...

...and a nice bright young Willow Warbler - looking very different to the adults we were seeing back in the spring © Martin Cade:

Still not much to report on the migrant moth front but the first Rusty Acorn Piercer Cydia amplana of the year from the Obs traps this mrng - a former rarity that may or may not be established here these days

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) Jul 26, 2024 at 8:40

25th July

Almost a surprise that there's anything to report, what with another bucketload of rain and seriously reduced visibility to cope with for a good chunk of the day. The waders again saved the day, with 60 Dunlin, 40 Ringed Plovers, 13 Sanderling, 11 Turnstones, a Knot and a Redshank  at Ferrybridge; 4 Shelduck were also there and an Arctic Skua passed overhead. Another 2 Shelduck passed the Bill where a Balearic Shearwater and 20 Common Scoter were lingering offshore and a Willow Warbler was in the Obs garden; several sightings of Yellow-legged Gulls there may or may not have involved more than one individual.

The Arctic Skua just visible through the gloom at Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:

We're finding ourselves having to go back as far as perhaps 1993 for a year as poor as the current one for migrant moths; of course there's plenty of time for things to change but right now numbers and variety really are pitifully low. A Blair's Mocha from John Lucas' garden at Southwell has been this week's highlight - this species seem to be getting established along other parts of the Dorset coast so is no longer the rarity it once was but this one was our first for the year...

...perhaps the only (formerly) scarce migrant that's been better represented than usual so far this summer has been Olive-tree Pearl but we do wonder if they haven't got established not too far away

...on the local scarcity front the year's first Wormwood was on the wing this week - as far as we know Portland remains the only Dorset location with a resident population of this nationally scarce moth © Martin Cade:

24th July

A fair day all round: passerine migrants might have fallen just about as far short of Nanjizal numbers as was possible but at least a tiny handful deigned to drop in, waders continued to increase in numbers and variety, whilst the sea saw the strongest movement of Gannets of the year. Passerine arrivals included the autumn's first Grasshopper Warbler, 5 Willow Warblers and 2 Wheatears on the ground and 83 Sand Martins through overhead, whilst waders included 65 Dunlin, 32 Ringed Plovers 5 Sanderling, 2 Turnstones and singles of Little Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Curlew, Whimbrel and Redshank at Ferrybridge and 2 Whimbrel, a Ringed Plover and a Dunlin at the Bill. After yesterday's poor showing the sea was the day's surprise package, with 400 Gannets (in three hours - with plenty more unquantified movement later on), 55 Common Scoter, 30 commic terns, 5 Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Arctic Skuas, 2 Yellow-legged Gulls, a Manx Shearwater and a Great Skua through or loitering off the Bill.

Sadly, less of a familiar sight these days than they used to be a few decades ago when falls of well into three figures weren't at all unusual in late July, it was still nice to see a few young Willow Warblers today © Martin Cade:

The first Grasshopper Warbler of the autumn from the Crown Estate Field nets this mrng - slightly oddly, a worn adult and not a sparkling fresh youngster

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— Portland Bird Observatory (@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social) Jul 24, 2024 at 7:00

The Ferrybridge wader selection included singles of Little Ringed and Grey Plovers © Martin Cade: