10th April

With a subtle rather than profound change in the weather - just a little more cloud in the sky and a cooler northerly replacing yesterday's southeasterly breeze - changes on the migrant front were hardly large scale. A response from Wheatears was very welcome, with more than 100 at both the Bill and Reap Lane/Barleycrates Lane going a little way toward making up the recent shortfall in their numbers. A modest arrival of other species at the Bill included 60 Willow Warblers, 20 each of Blackcap and Chiffchaff, 3 Redstarts and a Pied Flycatcher (3 wintering Short-eared Owls were also still about there), whilst elsewhere 2 Common Sandpipers were a first for the spring at Portland Harbour. Visible migrants of note included an Osprey over Weston and a Yellow Wagtail over Blacknor. The sea quietened down after yesterday's flurry, with 21 Manx Shearwaters, 5 Red-throated Divers, 2 Little Egrets and 2 Great Skuas the best on offer at the Bill.

There looked to some urgency to the Wheatears today, with many flying straight through and few of those that did pitch in lingering for long © Pete Saunders...


...and © Keith Pritchard:


This fly-by off the Bill was the latest in a minor flush of Little Egrets in recent days - we could do with one or two of the wintering Cattle Egrets tagging along as a bit of variety © Keith Pritchard: