18th April

With it way too clear overnight - and far less windy than during the last couple of days - migration no doubt picked up far overhead but there was no chance a big arrival of birds on the ground. The day's oddest events concerned Subalpine Warblers: the previously lingering bird at Wallsend was apparently reported once early in the morning but couldn't be found again despite plenty of searching; of potentially much more interest though, a second individual popped up briefly in front of one observer in the Obs garden before promptly vanishing into the ether. Among the thin spread of more routine arrivals uncovered at the Bill Willow Warblers were most numerous - managing a 30 tally - but more interest came in the form of 6 Lesser Whitethroats, the first Garden Warbler of the season and the lingering likely Icelandic Redwing; diurnal migrants featured in higher numbers and included a steady arrival of hirundines, 60 Wood Pigeons, 2 Jackdaws and a Merlin. What breeze there was remained offshore and consigned the sea to less than full coverage, with 3 Red-throated Divers and a lone Puffin the pick of the Bill sightings. The day's Ferrybridge totals included 11 Shelduck and 5 Whimbrel.

On an otherwise quiet day six Lesser Whitethroats was an excellent day-total at the Bill © Verity Hill:


With only one day-total in double figures, Whimbrel haven't really got going at all yet this spring © Debby Saunders


Now that there are multiple Cirl Buntings about the island - including two that are clearly paired-up -  we won't be reporting on them again until after the breeding season; however, Portland's a busy place at this time of year and word of their presence will no doubt spread as it clearly did today. Please give them a wide berth and don't linger near them - despite us posting a request to this effect this morning, we were dismayed to discover that by the afternoon a gaggle of photographers had already congregated beside a spot that a pair were regularly returning to. Cirl Bunting is afforded Schedule 1 protection and, should a breeding attempt materialise as seems highly likely, we'll have no hesitation in reporting miscreants to the authorities.

17th April

The smallest of upticks in passage was appreciated after a couple of lean days but the 50 Swallows, 25 Willow Warblers, 15 Chiffchaffs, 10 Wheatears, 10 Blackcaps, 2 Yellow Wagtails, a Redwing and a Redstart at the Bill hardly amounted to a bumper haul and it was certainly down to the lingering Western Subalpine Warbler to inject a bit of a spark into proceedings. The still very brisk wind remained way too offshore for the sea, with 4 Red-throated Divers, 2 Canada Geese, 2 Arctic Skuas and a Great Northern Diver the best on offer off the Bill. Two more Great Northern Divers and 5 Shelduck were the pick of the Ferrybridge offerings.

The Subalpine Warbler continued to show nicely...


...and some better wing and tail photos looked to confirm what we'd suspected earlier: Subalpine Warbler moult is very complicated as is clearly obvious in this photo that shows a wacky mix of old and new feathers - however, the presence of fresh outer primaries and alula is we think diagnostic of first-summer plumage as adults don't moult either in their pre-breeding moult...


...and more detail on the tail confirms the rather squared-off shape of the white on the penultimate feather which is just as it should be on a Western Subalpine © Mike Trew:


We popped up to see if we could record it this afternoon and whilst the windy conditions were far from ideal it did give a nice little burst of calling and several time broke into short bursts of subsong. The simple Lesser Whitethroat-like call does sound quite different to several recordings of Eastern Subalpines that we've listened to this evening:


16th April

Not a day of plenty on the land, sea or overhead, in fact for this date it was a bit of a shocker with only the continuing Western Subalpine Warbler at Wallsend allowing us to salvage some pride. Wheatear was the only one of the commoner migrants to manage double figures - in fact most posted no more than one or zero on the day-sheet; a Cuckoo at Pennsylvania Castle, a Short-eared Owl at the Bill, single Redstarts at the Bill and Southwell and 8 Knot and a Little Ringed Plover at Ferrybridge did provide a few crumbs of comfort in the otherwise futile quest for scarcity satiation.

Waders should begin to feature more prominently before long so we took the arrival of a group of Knot at Ferrybridge as an encouraging omen © Pete Saunders:

15th April

In keeping with the pattern so far this spring no sooner had it looked like migration was gaining momentum than shoddy weather rolls in to bring things to a halt. Today it was a fierce gale that had blown up overnight that scuppered our chances by seemingly grounding most Portland-bound migrants well before they got to us. The Western Subalpine Warbler lingered at Wallsend for a second day to keep the travelling listers and photographers happy but new arrivals on the common migrant front looked to be very thinly spread even if the conditions were hardly conducive for getting amongst them; the pick of what was uncovered were a Little Ringed Plover at Reap Lane, a likely Icelandic Redwing at Southwell, an early Spotted Flycatcher at Culverwell and a Yellow-legged Gull in the East Cliff fields. For a while after dawn the sea was rewarding, with 5 Arctic Skuas, 4 Red-throated Divers and 3 Great Skuas through off the Bill, whilst Ferrybridge again chipped in with some through movement including 2 Canada Geese and a Great Northern Divers.

Any port will do in a storm and this Little Ringed Plover found a nice little bolt-hole on the receding flood water at the end of Reap Lane - who's going to be the one that jams a 30 second Citrine Wagtail on this pool in the next few weeks? © Martin Cade:



It was that sort of day when even the gulls were back sitting out the storm on East Cliffs at the Bill - with a Yellow-legged Gull in their midst © Martin Cade:


And briefly back to yesterday for some photos we'd forgotten of some of the many Greenland/Iceland Wheatears jumping around the Wallsend area; whilst it was a pleasure to finally see a lot of Wheatears this spring it was interesting that the vast majority we took a closer look at were big, heavily saturated northwestern birds as opposed to anything that looked like it was headed towards northern Britain - for us at least, the latter seem to be severely depleted thus far this year © Martin Cade:


14th April

There was certainly a bit of quality on offer amongst today's mix, with a Hoopoe in off the sea at the Bill kicking things off in exciting fashion; it proved to be the most active of migrants and although intercepted at regular intervals as it moved north it never settled for long and was last seen heading away over Priory Corner in the direction of the mainland. Those that went off in pursuit of it at the Bill had a real stroke of good fortune when they stumbled upon a Western Subalpine Warbler at Wallsend, where it remained for the rest of the day. After yesterday's excesses, migrant numbers generally dropped away; Wheatear proved to be an honourable exception, with 200 or more through at the Bill and reports of a good spread of them elsewhere, but variety rather than quantity was otherwise the rule. A Woodlark and 3 Siskins passed through overhead at the Bill, where hirundines arrived in their best numbers so far this spring. The sea was relatively quiet, with 5 Red-throated Divers, 3 Great Northern Divers and 2 Canada Geese as good as it got off the Bill.

The Subalpine Warbler was a real show-off at times during the morning although it became more furtive as the wind freshened up during the afternoon. Although most intensely coloured on the throat, the whole underparts were well-saturated and we had no hesitation in taking it to be a Western Subalpine: 



It looked at times in the field to have very plentiful amounts of white in the outer tail feathers but our video-still shows that this does accord with what would be expected on a Western Subalpine - the white on the penultimate feather looks to be pretty squared-off with no suggestion of a wedge of white extending back up the feather...


Age-wise, our perception was always of it having noticeably bleached brown wings which would strongly suggest it's a first-summer © Martin Cade:




13th April

Consecutive days with plenty of birds - blimey, things really are looking up! The mould was set right as dawn broke when a Cirl Bunting appeared and was duly trapped in the Obs garden and there was no looking back after that, with the steady flow of common migrants having in their midst the season's first Yellow Wagtails (2), Garganey, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper and Sedge Warbler. The customary trio of Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff made up the bulk of the numbers, with Blackcap well to the fore on 150 or so around the south of the island; the two phylloscs shared out a similar total between them. Most of the other expected mid-April migrants were represented, with 7 Redstarts, 2 Whinchats, a Ring Ouzel and a Pied Flycatcher particularly popular around the south and singles of White Wagtail, Redwing and Grasshopper Warbler of note further north. The Garganey aside, sea interest included another 33 Pale-bellied Brent Geese through at Ferrybridge and 22 Red-throated Divers and a Velvet Scoter through off the Bill.

It'd be a fantastic event if we got Cirl Buntings back again this year for another breeding attempt and the recent series of arrivals certainly bodes well. The sexing of some of the birds seen lately in the middle of the island has apparently been problematic but there's no doubt that today's Bill bird was a female...



...We've got pretty minimal experience when it comes to ageing spring buntings but we did notice that the two outer tail feathers were noticeably fresher and more rounded than the other feathers - if you can be sure such a difference is down to design rather than accident this can helpful in giving you a bit of a steer on a bird's age, although in this case we'd have preferred to have seen this difference in the central feathers and also to have spotted some other helpful discontinuities in the wings for us to be sure it was a youngster rather than an adult © Martin Cade:


The third flock of migrating Pale-bellied Brents in two days © Pete Saunders:


Big differences in Great Northern Diver plumages are now evident - this adult passing the Bill was the first fully moulted one seen so far this spring © Matthew Barfield...


...whereas this one over Ferrybridge was still in full winter plumage - it looks as though you can just see the  'scaly' feathers characteristic of juvenile plumage on its shoulders so we're guessing this youngster probably won't get into full breeding plumage this summer © Pete Saunders:




12th April

These things are relative so today was hardly, for example, like last year's mega day when a tsunami of migrants swept through the island and with just a handful of mist-nets we broke all previous ringing records. Today was altogether more pedestrian with just 33 ringed from a full day with all the nets but such was the variety on offer everywhere that it seemed like spring really had finally got going. The firsts for the year came thick and fast with a pre-dawn Tree Pipit revealed by the Obs nocmig recorder soon followed in daylight by single Grasshopper Warblers at the Bill and Barleycrates, a couple of Whitethroats at the Bill and singles of Whinchat and Corn Bunting at Barleycrates; later, the first Lesser Whitethroat of the season was at Verne Common. To add to these, further interest came in the form of 8 Redstarts, 2 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Cirl Buntings, a Merlin, a late Redwing and a Serin dotted about the centre and south of the island, 108 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 17 Sandwich Terns, 15 Red-throated Divers, 4 Great Northern Divers and 3 Canada Geese through off the Bill and another 4 Great Northern Divers still in Portland Harbour; 42 more Sandwich Terns and 7 Common Terns were amongst the morning movement through Ferrybridge. A hearteningly good showing of Wheatears saw them nearly reach a three figure total around the centre and south, whilst Willow Warblers likely got close to that total in the same area. To add to all that, by the afternoon it was blazingly sunny and pleasantly warm - all in all a pretty decent day.

As is often the case since they shoot past going in the opposite direction to nearly everything else, both flocks of Pale-bellied Brents were nearly missed as they rounded the Bill and struck off across Lyme Bay © Verity Hill:



11th April

In a day long peasouper, for a few hours we were able to kid ourselves that there were migrants out but we just couldn't see them; however, by the afternoon, the reality had dawned that it really was still just as rubbish as it had been all the rest of the week. A lone Redstart did give a glimmer of hope at the Bill, but otherwise it was down to the thinnest spread of Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers on the ground and the odd flash of a Swallow disappearing into the fog to provide interest. The sea wasn't visible in any meaningful way for the whole day!


10th April

Another day that offered what looked to be some hope of a fall out of migrants on the land and a bit of a seawatching, both of which almost completely failed to materialise. It wasn't utterly dead but numbers were far, far below Portland's usual spring standard, with barely double figures of even the commonest passerines on the ground, no visible passage overhead and just 3 Red-throated Divers through off the Bill. Ferrybridge chipped in with 27 Sandwich Terns, 5 Great Northern Divers, 4 Shelduck and 3 Canada Geese over.

It wasn't just us getting wet in the recurring drizzy, mizzly or worse outbreaks - this male Wheatear in song at the Bill was looking far below its usually dapper best © Matt Ames:


Sandwich Tern and the Canada Geese overhead at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:


9th April

 A 60mph westerly gale really isn't what's needed in mid-April and for the most part Storm Pierrick was an ill wind bird-wise. A Hooded Crow at Reforne was a surprise new arrival but interest otherwise consisted of just a Merlin and a handful of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs on the ground at the Bill, an Arctic Skua through on the sea there and 170 Mediterranean Gulls, 81 Sandwich Terns, a Common Tern and a Little Tern through at Portland Harbour/Ferrybridge.

Amazingly, the Hooded Crow that pitched up in private gardens at Reforne is now the third scarcity this year that's only been witnessed by interested members of the public who've taken some mobile phone record-shots © Lisa Cousins (top two photos) and Jill Bramley (bottom photo):




Portland's first Little Tern of the spring © Pete Saunders:


The year's first Vestal - which is also the island's earliest-ever record - was secured in peculiar circumstances: with a raging gale blowing overnight next to nothing was trapped in the couple of moth-traps left on at the Obs; however, later in the day the Vestal was discovered floating (still alive) in a pond close to one of the traps - presumably it had ditched in the pond after being attracted to the light and then couldn't escape © Martin Cade:

8th April

Popular opinion ventured that there was a more than evens chance of a decent drop of birds today - but what do we know about it? In the event the happenings didn't get beyond the very mundane at the Bill: only Wheatear and Chiffchaff managed double figure totals on the ground, singles of Redstart and Bullfinch provided minor interest and almost nothing was on the move overhead; 34 Common Scoter, 28 Mediterranean Gulls, 10 Red-throated Divers and 5 Eider represented a less than impressive return from the sea. Elsewhere, Portland Castle hosted the year's first Brambling and second Pied Flycatcher.

7th April

A less than compelling day: batteringly strong winds overnight saw passerine migration remain on hold and did far less for the sea than might have been hoped. What numbers and variety there were were all on the sea, with 24 Sandwich Terns, 2 Great Skuas and an Arctic Skua from the Bill, 6 Red-throated Divers, an Arctic Skua and a Little Gull from Chesil and 61 Sandwich Terns, 5 Common Terns, 2 Great Northern Divers and a Little Gull through over Ferrybridge. A pitiful selection from the land included nothing of significance beyond a Merlin at the Bill.

This is a photo that slightly disproves something we'd always taken as read, which is that moulting Great Northern Divers are temporarily rendered flightless by simultaneously shedding all their flight feathers (that is the case - we've just looked it up to check!). Many years ago - when we birded Weymouth - we got quite into watching at this time of year an annual moult gathering of Great Northern Divers in Weymouth Bay; several times we saw birds flap their wings and reveal just 'stumps' without any flight feathers. Today's bird is clearly making a fair bit of moult progress, with its bill already colouring up and new plumage visible on the head, shoulders and wing bases but it's also patently completely fully-winged. Thus far, we've only been able to find one relevant notebook from the old days but this does record on 20th April of that year an individual off Lodmoor in 'mostly' summer plumage but with no flight feathers visible when it flapped, so we're guessing the flight feather shedding usually occurs after head and body moult has progressed a bit further than it has on today's individual, rather than as soon as moult begins? © Pete Saunders:



6th April

A bit of a curate's egg of a day - something that perhaps might have been expected given the peculiar conditions that saw the likes of a mountainous sea arrive in tandem with enough warmth for it to be the first shirtsleeves day of the year. The island's earliest-ever Black Tern was a nice highlight from the sea, whilst a grounded Avocet was the pick of the spring's first real push of migrant waders; as for action on the land, the mentioning of Hoopoe and Yellowhammer in the same breath might seem strange but reflects the fact that there have already been more of the former this year than the latter. The sea certainly came up with the best of the day's numbers and variety, with 45 Bar-tailed Godwits, 30 Whimbrel, 10 Common Terns, 2 Arctic Skuas, a Little Gull and the Black Tern off Chesil and 59 Common Scoter, 42 Whimbrel, 20 Bar-tailed Godwits, 6 Red-throated Divers, 4 Arctic Skuas, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers and singles of Grey Plover and Great Skua from the Bill; the passing Avocet didn't quite make the seawatching viewpoints but skipped over Chesil and dropped in at Ferrybridge. Sadly, the Hoopoe escaped the gaze of birders who had pretty scant rewards from the land: the Yellowhammer and a Ring Ouzel were new in at the Bill and Southwell respectively, but otherwise it was slim pickings with 2 White Wagtails the best of the rest around the south of the island.


5th April

Yesterday's hint of things getting going again did indeed prove to be the precursor to migration gaining substantially more momentum, with a far more typical Portland spring fall in evidence right across the island today. Coverage was far from adequate away from the hotspots but the Bill area's totals of 100 Blackcaps, 90 Willow Warblers, 60 Chiffchaffs, 30 Wheatears, 3 Redstarts, 2 Siskins, a Merlin and a Redwing were reflected at several other spots that were scrutinised, where additional finds included a Pied Flycatcher at Sweethill and a Yellowhammer at the Grove - both first records for the year; also noted again was the presumed Siberian Lesser Whitethroat that was still hanging on in a garden at Southwell. The sea always looked as though it ought to be producing but the returns from the Bill at least were no more than 55 Sandwich Terns, 4 Red-throated Divers, 6 Common Scoter, 2 Shelducks and a Great Skua.

Pied Flycatcher and Willow Warbler at Sweethill today © Pete Saunders:




4th April

These things are relative because the recent bar has fallen to ever such a low level but there was just the tiniest hint of there being more about on the ground today, with Wheatear and Blackcap both managing to scrape into double figures at the Bill. In truth, beyond the occasional Swallow passing by, there was few other signs of migration picking up and by way of interest things not no better than a lingering White Wagtail at Sweethill. In the continuing turbulent conditions the sea was surprisingly quiet, with little more than 4 Red-throated Divers of note off the Bill.

3rd April

Weather-wise, our tale of woe continued, with the strength of the wind being today's blight. An unseen Serin in song in a birder's garden at Southwell frustrated subsequent searchers by turning as inaudible as it had been invisible. The day's other new arrivals on the land were exceedingly few and included by way of interest just 2 White Wagtails at Sweethill and singles of Ring Ouzel at the Obs and Fieldfare at Fancy's Farm. The sea provided some early interest, with 34 Sandwich Terns, 10 Red-throated Divers and singles of Great Skua and Arctic Skua through off the Bill.

2nd April

Another day with no more than single figure totals of grounded migrants at the Bill, amongst which 2 White Wagtails and a lone Redwing provided the only glimmer on interest; elsewhere, lingering singles of Black Redstart at Reap Lane and Redwing at Blacknor attracted admirers in the absence of anything else. Despite the southerly breeze freshening quickly ahead of the arrival of yet more during the afternoon sea passage was rather pedestrian, with 17 Red-throated Divers, 4 Dunlin, 4 Sandwich Terns and an Arctic Skua the best from the Bill.

1st April

A pre-dawn deluge might have been hoped to be the shot in the arm that our needy cause required but in the event fell well short of expectations. Whilst quantity might have been deficient quality wasn't, with 2 Cirl Buntings at Barleycrates Lane and a Serin at the Obs delivering on that front; 2 more coburni Icelandic Redwings trapped at the Obs continued the run of records of this local scarcity, whilst 4 Greylag Geese overhead at the Bill come at a time of year that has a historic peak of occurrences here that the optimistic attribute to the occasional passage of birds of non-local origin. The drop of common migrants wasn't a spectacle to behold: 2 Redstarts, a White Wagtail and a Black Redstart dotted around in mid-island were welcome but they were accompanied by, for example, barely more than single figure totals of Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler at the Bill, whilst Wheatears remained crazily few and far between everywhere. The day's clear sky remained all but bereft of diurnal migrants. The sea ticked over in a more productive manner than passage on other fronts, with morning totals from the Bill that included 310 Gannets, 75 Mediterranean Gulls, 66 Common Scoter, 46 Common Gulls, 21 Sandwich Terns, 16 Eider, 11 Red-throated Divers, 6 Arctic Skuas and 3 Little Gulls. Winter fare still about included a Slavonian Grebe in Portland Harbour.

We strongly suspect the recent Serin sightings all involve the same individual, although quite where it goes between its infrequent appearances at the Obs remains to be established © Martin Cade:


Despite being no more than a long range spectacle from the Obs, the flock of Eider were of interest since they were tracked moving along the best part of the length of the Dorset coastline: they took about 30 minutes to cover the 15 or so miles from West Bexington at c30mph; the timings of their next 23 miles until they passed Peveril Point at Swanage were more precisely established and showed they speeded up and covered this leg of their up-Channel passage in 32 minutes at a speed of 43mph (thanks to Mike Morse for the initial heads-up and to James Leaver and Steve Smith for the Peveril details) © Martin Cade:


Another day and two more Icelandic Redwings: quite apart from looking the part these birds were whoppers, with wing lengths of 130mm and 128 mm respectively © Martin Cade:



31st March

March has been very much a month of fits and starts, with the overall feeling of spring action getting going really promptly being spoilt by spells when inclement weather has seen things grind to a halt. Fortunately, the month ended on a high with numbers on all fronts and a nice scarcity showing up in the form of a Hoopoe that dropped in briefly at Blacknor. The highest numbers were overhead, with quite a floodgate opening on West Cliffs where 1293 Meadow Pipits and 352 Linnets made up the bulk of the north-bound movement during a six hour watch; although the stiff easterly funneled a lot of passage up the cliffs it was also apparent from other viewpoints that plenty of birds - hirundines in particular - were arriving elsewhere over the Bill so better coverage would undoubtedly have resulted in considerably higher day-totals of these diurnal movers. The strength of the wind wasn't doing favours on the ground, but 100 Chiffchaffs and 60 Willow Warblers - along with a Ring Ouzel at the Bill and a Firecrest at Portland Castle amongst the also-rans - were a fair return at the Bill; there were further patches of conspicuous phyllosc abundance up-island and the feeling was always that some good totals might have been racked up there given more eyes out looking. The sea got plenty of attention, with combined totals from the the Bill and Chesil that included 362 Common Scoter, 77 Sandwich Terns, 35 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 35 Black-headed Gulls, 2 Red-throated Divers, 2 Arctic Skuas and singles of Velvet Scoter, Grey Plover, Whimbrel, Yellow-legged Gull and Common Tern.

The Hoopoe showed so well during its brief visit to a back-garden lawn that the event was captured perfectly well with a mobile phone © Si Gallali:



Whimbrel and Great Northern Diver from Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:



30th March

Much improved conditions were welcomed for permitting comfortable fieldwork but were maybe a little too improved to deliver on the migrant front, with the starlit night sky giving delayed movers plenty of opportunity to make unhindered progress. What small flurry of arrivals there was was most evident at dawn when the mainly phylloscs involved moved through very quickly, and later as a trickle of routine diurnal migrants got moving; further later arrivals included the spring's first Redstart at Southwell, an Osprey heading through over the Grove and a likely Icelandic Redwing trapped at the Obs. The sea was disappointing, with the increasingly brisk onshore breeze delivering little more at the Bill than 100 Common Scoter and the first commic tern of the season.

We wouldn't have thought there's too much doubt that today's Redwing was Iceland-bound even it wasn't quite such a compellingly-marked individual as, for example, this fabulously swarthy specimen handled yesterday on Skokholm. Our take is that coburni Icelandic Redwings are genuinely rare visitors to Portland: we've handled or photographed a few here over the years and there are biometrics recorded in the Obs archives that suggest the occasional specimen was trapped before our time but there's no doubt that the overwhelming majority of Redwings recorded here originate from Scandinavia or points further east © Martin Cade:



29th March

Yesterday's weather excesses may have passed but the overnight and daytime conditions remained far too turbulent for passerines to get moving in any numbers and the bank holiday rewards were scant on the ground and overhead. The odd singles of the most routine fare were uncovered but certainly nothing worth a mention beyond the year's first Grey Plover at Portland Harbour and a Reed Bunting at the Bill; also of interest, the presumed Siberian Lesser Whitethroat was still in a private garden at Southwell. The sea was a little more interesting, with 86 Sandwich Terns through at Ferrybridge and a steady trickle of Manx Shearwaters through off the Bill; 3 Red-throated Divers and a Whimbrel also passed the Bill, where 2 Garganey were also reported.

The Ferrybridge Sandwich Terns were all moving west after presumably having been driven into the sheltered waters of the harbour and Weymouth Bay by yesterday's storm © Pete Saunders:


The presumed Siberian Lesser Whitethroat hadn't been looked for for a number of days but was still in a private garden at Southwell - judging by it's shoddy appearance it's undergoing its pre-breeding body moult so will likely be present for a while longer yet © Alan Mayell:




28th March

What an extremely wild day: we haven't seen official figures for the afternoon wind strength but it seemed like it might have been gusting up well past 60mph in some violent squalls that followed torrential rain through the morning - all in all, really grim. Seawatching at the Bill from dawn before the heaviest rain set in did produce the spring's first Whimbrel, along with 5 Red-throated Divers and singles of Great Northern Diver and Arctic Skua, but the less said about the rest of the day the better.

Whimbrel, Arctic Skua and Kittiwake from the dawn seawatching session © Pete Saunders:




27th March

One day it's going to settle down and dry up but today most definitely wasn't that day...and by the sound of things nor is tomorrow! Grounded arrivals looked to be completely absent, with the only migrant interest on the land being a lone Merlin and a handful of Meadow Pipits and Swallows through overhead. The sea fared little better with 13 passing Red-throated Divers the only birds of particular note off the Bill.

As is often the case in late March, Red-throated Divers provided the bulk of the day's sea interest © Pete Saunders...


...and with the likes of wildfowl and skuas conspicuous absentees it was left to Gannets and the occasional Mediterranean Gull to keep us occupied in the pretty unpleasant conditions © Martin Cade: 




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