The northeasterly airflow's showing no sign of abating, but today's increasingly overcast conditions - that heralded the novelty for recent weeks of a spell of late afternoon rain - brought some much needed change to proceedings and dropped more than a sprinkle of new arrivals on the land. A total of 75 Chiffchaffs made up the bulk of the grounded migrants at the Bill, where Wheatears, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers were all represented in far lower numbers and 5 Fieldfare, 3 Redwings and a Redstart provided some variety. It was far busier overhead, although action there was on such a broad front that it was tricky to fully tap into what with there being next to no visiting birders about to lend a hand in that department; a two hour stint at Wallsend that came up with 513 Meadow Pipits, 240 Linnets, 63 Goldfinches, 57 Swallows, 57 Sand Martins and 22 House Martins patently only scratched the surface and the day's true diurnal totals would have been considerably higher. In contrast, the day's sea passage was a little more subdued than of late, with 137 Common Scoter, 80 Sandwich Terns, 5 commic terns, 4 Red-throated Divers, a Great Northern Diver and a Teal through off the Bill.
2nd April
1st April
31st March
30th March
29th March
Had it not been for the continuing Dotterel at Ferrybridge today would have been distinctly underwhelming on the migrant front, with the crystal clear night and bright, sunny morning seeing to it that precious little was grounded. The conditions did offer something for the vismiggers who enjoyed some limited passage along West Cliffs, whilst another potentially very noteworthy overhead sighting concerned a Goshawk reported by visitors over the north of the island; the more mundane diurnal passage included 156 Meadow Pipits, 72 Wood Pigeons, 13 Fieldfares, 11 Carrion Crows, 9 Stock Doves and 7 Redwings through past the watchpoint at Wallsend. On the ground, 5 Firecrests (only one of them a new arrival) and a Redstart were easily the best on offer at the Bill. The sea ticked over with divers, including 15 Red-throated, a Black-throated and a Great Northern through off the Bill, but little else was on the move.
On a day with little about on the ground there were still a handful of Wheatears to brighten things up © Geoff Orton:
Quite amazingly, having already had two off-island Barn Owls make it here in the last year, last week we received news of a third outsider found on the island - this one was found dead at Weston on 22nd March by a member of the public and its ring revealed it had been marked as a nestling at Bluntshay, near Bridport in west Dorset, in June of last year. Quite why so many Barn Owls are travelling such long distances to get here is beyond us and it seems, since two of the three have been found dead, that they're not thriving once they do get here - maybe on arrival they're finding that the choicest habitat is already spoken for by the local population so they get relegated to the margins. Many thanks to the Alan Reese and Luke Phillips for making us aware of this record:
28th March
On another day, this morning's short band of pre- and post-dawn rain might have precipitated a drop of migrants but today things didn't work out that way, with numbers falling away after a few decent days. A Hooded Crow was a new arrival at the Bill, where 2 more new Firecrests were amongst the modest totals of more routine fare; it was a little busier overhead, with 160 Wood Pigeons, 150 Meadow Pipits and a Merlin featuring amongst the vismig totals there. Surprise of the day on the land was the overnight relocation of the Dotterel from Wallsend to Ferrybridge, where it remained until early evening; elsewhere, a scatter of Black Redstarts included 3 at Blacknor. Another 60 Common Scoter and 21 Red-throated Divers passed by off the Bill, where the pick of the morning's watch were 4 Eider; also on the sea, the 2 Long-tailed Ducks remained in Portland Harbour.
March and April are the peak months for the occasional Hooded Crows that pitch up at Portland although their origins remain obscure: are they coming from the north from Scotland/Scandinavia or from eastern/southeastern continental Europe? Shortly after these photos were taken this bird upped and departed so far out to sea that it was lost to view - next stop France if it kept going. Since at least one of the recent island records involved a bird of Heinz 57 parentage it was good that today's individual looked to be as pure as they come © Martin Cade:
27th March
26th March
At first the Hoopoe at Haylands was distant, but was flushed by a Magpie on to the path giving me some very nice views! @PortlandBirdObs @DorsetBirdClub pic.twitter.com/moF7XnaWLL
— Aspen Silvaana (@Aspensilvaana) March 26, 2025
Incredible views of the vibrant Blue-headed Wagtail at Reap lane,Portland today.@DorsetBirdClub @PortlandBirdObs pic.twitter.com/oadPICmIiM
— Aspen Silvaana (@Aspensilvaana) March 26, 2025
Although far from the brash brightness of a spring male, on close inspection there's still plenty going for a spring female Brambling © Martin Cade:
A mobile phone snap of the Large Tortoiseshell at Southwell - the first record for the island since the last sightings of the temporarily established breeding population in March 2022 © John Lucas:
25th March
A relatively low-key day although no less enjoyable for that, with fair conditions allowing for plenty of fieldwork. A small influx of Firecrests saw 5 new birds trapped at the Obs, whilst a spread of 10 or more Black Redstarts around the south of the island included several new individuals; among the other less-regulars, yesterday's Treecreeper relocated to Sweethill, social media reported the continuing presence of a/the Blue-headed Wagtail at Reap Lane and a handful of White Wagtails remained there and elsewhere. Among more routine fare, Chiffchaffs made up the bulk of the numbers on the ground, including 40 at the Bill, whilst overhead passage included an early morning pulse of 45 Redwings and 15 Fieldfares north along West Cliffs. Thirty Red-throated Divers and 18 Brent Geese were the pick from some otherwise uneventful seawatching at the Bill.
Enough of the ring number can be seen to confirm that this evening's Treecreeper at Sweethill was indeed the bird trapped yesterday morning in the Obs garden - it had remained at the Obs until at least yesterday evening but wasn't seen there this morning © Pete Saunders:
24th March
23rd March
22nd March
What a really strange period of migration this is: quite how we can be tapping into so many record-breakingly early arrivals during a period when the majority of grounded common migrants are so abysmally represented defies logic but it happened again today, as the island's earliest ever Sedge Warbler arrived in tandem with grounded totals at the Bill of, for example, no more than single figure totals of the likes of Wheatear and Chiffchaff. The unforecast clear-ish sky and brightness did see diurnal migrants get moving in fair supply, with totals of 881 Meadow Pipits, 22 Linnets, 10 'Alba' Wagtails, 9 Sand Martin, 5 Swallow, 3 House Martin and a Grey Wagtail through during the sample four and a half watch on West Cliffs, where a Ring Ouzel also briefly pitched in. Also on the ground, a new Firecrest joined a linger at the Obs and multiples of White Wagtail and Black Redstart, and a single Redwing were around the centre of the island. The highlight from the morning's Bill seawatch was a Black-throated Diver, with an additional 127 Common Scoter, 17 Red-throated Divers and 3 Sandwich Terns also heading up-Channel. A more varied selection from the Chesil included 22 Brent Geese, 4 Dunlin and a Sanderling.
Today's Sedge Warbler at the Bill was a full week earlier than the previous earliest arrival there on 29th March 1998 © Jodie Henderson:
21st March
20th March
19th March
18th March
First off, a Happy Birthday to ourselves - we're almost up to OAP vintage: today's the 64th anniversary of the official opening of PBO at its current base at the Old Lower Lighthouse...