Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher and Turtle Dove - Portland Bill, 16th May 2014 © Debby Saunders (Whitethroat), Joe Stockwell Yet another birding blog (Spotted Flycatcher & settled Turtle Dove) and Martin Cade (flying Turtle Dove)
16th May
With the weather remaining much too pleasant to expect any quantity of migrants it was left to 2 rather late Ospreys that flew north over the island an hour apart either side of midday to provide the day's main interest - a nice highlight but mere crumbs in comparison with the raptor-fest elsewhere in South-west England. The largely insignificant spread of routine fare - nothing, for example, reached a double figure total on the ground - included 2 Turtle Doves, 2 Black Redstarts and a Cuckoo at the Bill. Another pulse of Common Scoter passage - 135 off the Bill and 38 off Chesil - was unexpected on the sea, with 3 Great Northern Divers, a Red-throated Diver and an Arctic Skua off the Bill and 2 Shoveler off Chesil also worth a mention.
