11th March

Bar the non-appearance of the year's first Wheatear there was precious little to fault today, with plenty enough to enjoy in lovely calm conditions. An overcast dawn looked to have promise and it was soon evident there was nice little spread of new arrivals everywhere, with thrushes in particular a feature around the south of the island, with 25 Blackbirds, 9 Redwings and a Fieldfare at the Bill and 20 Redwings at Suckthumb. Four Long-tailed Tits, 3 Grey Wagtails, 2 Woodlarks, 2 Siskins and a Firecrest were the pick of the migrants at the Bill, where 3 Short-eared Owls, 2 Water Rails, 2 Black Redstarts and 2 more Firecrests were also still about; 2 Black Redstarts at Blacknor were the best elsewhere. Black-headed Gulls were again trickling through offshore, including 50 off Chesil, but the sea didn't come up with much more besides single Curlews off both the Bill and Chesil, and a Slavonian Grebe settled off Chesil.



Firecrest - Portland Bill, 11th March 2016 © Martin Cade

Also a short recording of one of the Woodlarks as it flew past the Obs:



...and, as a bit of a Portland novelty, later we were treated to one of the Siskins issuing forth with something that presumably accords to song: