23rd December

With the wind a relentless feature of this winter it's perhaps a surprise that there haven't been more storm-driven seabirds in evidence. Perseverance on that front did eventually pay off at Chesil Cove early today with the discovery of a Little Auk close to shore, whilst nearby a Sandwich Tern that showed up at Ferrybridge was a new arrival as opposed to a returnee from earlier in the month. Two Great Northern Divers were also at Ferrybridge, whilst the gradual eastbound exodus of Brent Geese that has been evident there for some time continued (...is their food less plentiful on the Fleet this winter?); the only sea report from the Bill concerned a lone passing Red-throated Diver. On the land, the Bill/Southwell area chipped in with a now customary tally of at least 4 Purple Sandpipers, 3 Chiffchaffs, 2 Short-eared Owls and a Firecrest.

On the moth front a Scarce Bordered Straw at the Obs was the first record during the current immigration episode, as well as constituting the latest ever Portland record of the species.

And finally, for no particular reason other than completeness we have now uploaded daily reports for the period we were away earlier this month; we've didn't have enough weather or other details to be able to post proper narratives for each day, but there are a few nice photos that had been sent through in our absence.






Sandwich Tern, Short-eared Owl and Scarce Bordered Straw - Ferrybridge, Southwell and Portland Bill, 23rd December 2015 © Pete Saunders (Sandwich Tern and Short-eared Owl) and Martin Cade (Scarce Bordered Straw)