The Portland PortalThe visitor guide to the beautiful Isle of Portland, Dorset

Siskin

12th – After all the recent rain a day of almost unbroken sunshine was particularly welcome. The brisk northerly wind that accompanied the change in the weather saw to it that passing migrants were made to struggle, with a nice array of mainly routine fare at least temporarily downed at the Bill. With many birds passing straight through soon after dawn the day’s census perhaps erred on the low side, but the totals available included 100 each of Wheatear and Blackcap, 75 each of Whitethroat and Willow Warbler, 50 each of Garden Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher, 20 Reed Warblers, 15 each of Redstart and Sedge Warbler, 10 each of Yellow Wagtail, Whinchat and Chiffchaff, 3 each of Turtle Dove and Lesser Whitethroat, 2 each of Hobby and Cuckoo and singles of Grey Heron, Tree Pipit, Siskin and Redpoll. Elsewhere there was an additional Cuckoo at Barleycrates Lane and 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, 3 Whimbrel and a Gadwall were at Ferrybridge. Another single Clouded Yellow was at the Bill.

13th – The sky remained crystal clear but the absence of yesterday’s brisk headwind ensured that migrants were much more thinly spread today, with a Nightingale at Weston, a Wood Warbler at Verne Common and a Marsh Harrier in off the sea at Chesil providing the only morsels of quality. At the Bill totals on the ground included 30 Willow Warblers, 25 Wheatears, 10 Reed Warblers, 5 each of Sedge Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Chiffchaff, 3 Whinchats and singles of Yellow Wagtail, Lesser Whitethroat and Redpoll; elsewhere there were 8 Sanderling and 3 Bar-tailed Godwits at Ferrybridge. Hirundines were arriving at a steady rate through much of the morning, with Sand Martins surprisingly numerous at the Bill. Seawatching produced 83 Common Scoter and 2 Shoveler through off the Bill and 6 Bar-tailed Godwits through off Chesil. A single Clouded Yellow was at Ferrybridge.

14th – The sunny skies of the weekend lingered for a little while into the morning before yet another rainy weather front advanced in from the north-west and spoilt a good part of the rest of the day. Unfortunately the day’s birding was, by recent standards at least, decidedly uneventful, with precious little in the way of quantity of migrants on the ground and not over much on the sea. At the Bill the light spread of new arrivals included 3 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Turtle Doves, 2 Reed Warblers, a Tree Pipit and a Garden Warblers amongst a meagre tally of Willow Warblers. The seawatchers there came up with totals of 200 Manx Shearwaters, 62 Common Scoter, at least 10 Sanderling, 6 Great Northern Divers, 2 Arctic Skuas and a Pomarine Skua, with the passage of Sanderlings reflected in an increase to 26 in their numbers at Ferrybridge.

15th – Blustery north-westerlies promised little and delivered virtually nothing today. At the Bill grounded migrants were sufficiently few that they could be enumerated in full: 8 Wheatears, 2 Reed Warblers and singles of Robin, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher; a similarly poor variety elsewhere included 10 Sanderling at Ferrybridge. Odds and ends through off the Bill included a trickle of Manx Shearwaters, 3 Ringed Plover, 2 Great Northern Divers, a Black-throated Diver and an Arctic Skua.

16th – Very clear skies still and more pretty lean birding. Aside from a brief Serin reported from the QinetiQ compound during the morning, there were a handful more grounded migrants than yesterday, with small numbers of Wheatears, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers, 4 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Hobbys and singles of Short-eared Owl, White Wagtail, Whinchat, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat at the Bill; the steady passage of arriving Swallows apparent there during the morning had largely petered out by the afternoon. For the most part the sea provided little more than a trickle of passing Manx Shearwaters, although perseverance did eventually produce 2 Pomarine Skuas and a Great Northern Diver through off the Bill.

17th – It certainly wouldn’t have been posssible to take yesterday’s aerial photograph today since the island was for the duration blanketed by heavy and often threatening-looking cloud; the lack of sunshine and the presence of a strengthening easterly wind made it feel a lot like mid-winter rather than mid-May. The conditions had been widely talked up, but in the event both land and sea seemed at times almost devoid of migrants. The handful of new arrivals at the Bill included a Black Redstart amongst tiny numbers of routine fare on the land, and small numbers of Swallows and House Martins passing overhead; the sea there came up with 50 Manx Shearwaters, 35 Common Scoter, 3 Sanderling, 5 Tufted Ducks, 2 Great Northern Divers, 2 Great Skuas and a Black-throated Diver. Elsewhere a lone Hobby passed through at Fortuneswell. Seawatching at Chesil produced 5 Bar-tailed Godwits and 2 Whimbrel, whilst 8 Sanderling, a Bar-tailed Godwit and a Whimbrel were amongst the commoner waders at Ferrybridge.

18th- Very dreary and, at least through the morning, quite breezy again, before milder, quieter, foggy conditions edged in late in the afternoon. A light trickle of Swifts and hirundines were arriving in off the sea through the morning, but grounded migrants at the Bill consisted of just 4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Reed Warblers and singles of Whimbrel, Turtle Dove, Wheatear, Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler; elsewhere there were 10 Sanderling and 5 Bar-tailed Godwits at Ferrybridge. The sea was well watched at the Bill where nothing more than 18 Common Scoter, 15 Manx Shearwaters and 3 Common Scoter passed by.