7th January

Plenty of coverage today what with it being the weekend and there being a Dorset bird race taking place that saw a steady stream of folk dashing about the area. At the Bill there was a minor skua-fest offshore, with at least 2 Great Skuas, a Pomarine Skua and another Arctic/Pomarine Skua lingering for periods during the morning; 10 Common Scoter and 2 Red-throated Divers also passed through there and 9 Purple Sandpipers were again about on the shore at the Bill tip. The only other reports were of 12 Black-necked Grebes, 2 Eider and a Great Northern Diver in Portland Harbour.

In the dreary and at times damp conditions the top of the island was cloaked in cloud for much of the day © Allan Reese:


Although we've been seeing them - or more often hearing them - after dark at the Bill pretty well every night this was the first Barn Owl that's shown up at dusk at Southwell so far this year © Debby Saunders:


The skuas off the Bill were for the most part too distant for meaningful photos but a Red-throated Diver did come just about close enough © Martin Cade: