Portland - 7th September

Arriving at Portland at 06:15, it was still pretty much dark and I enjoyed a coffee while standing in the chilly air listening for calling birds but in the north-west wind it seemed very quiet with just small numbers of Meadow Pipit and the occasional Yellow Wagtail passing over. As the sun rose I walked up the West Cliff scanning the Brambles and hoping for a Booted Warbler to pop up but of course it was not to be, a single Wheatear and Chiffchaff is all that I saw. I wandered back to the car needing another coffee. The sun was now up and it was a beautiful warm morning and with sufficient caffeine I headed out across Portland.

It was pretty slow going though, at the Pulpit there were three Willow Warbler and two Chiffchaff and I spent some time hear watching the birds as they fed actively along the sun drenched bank of Elm.  A scan to sea produced a flock of six Balearic Shearwater passing west fairly close to shore. I spent some time staring into the Observatory Quarry, here there were two Lesser Whitethroat and at least seven Common Whitethroat. I then headed down through the Beach Huts and through the paddocks to the east of the observatory, here there was very little but for eight Wheatear and four Blackcap. Reaching Culverwell I spent some time wandering around the newly cleared net rides, there were good numbers of bird here and I recorded two Spotted Flycatcher, four Chiffchaff and three Blackcap. The Top Fields were very quiet with small numbers of Swallow passing over and very small numbers of Meadow Pipit and Linnet. Back at the observatory I spent some time chatting on the patio, the seawatching this morning had produced a high count of 131 Balearic Shearwater which was somewhat surprising in a north-west wind. It was 10:00 and as I needed to collect Tobias from school so I decided to head slowly back to the car via the Observatory Quarry, here I encountered the hoverfly Chrysotoxum cautum which showed well on a sunlit Bramble, this appears to be only the second record for Portland. These are my morning totals:

Swallow – Very small numbers, with only 35 counted moving east early on.
Yellow Wagtail – 12
Whinchat – 1
Wheatear – 9
Blackcap – 4 Culverwell
Lesser Whitethroat – 2 Observatory Quarry
Whitethroat – 9
Chiffchaff – 8
Willow Warbler – 3 Pulpit bushes
Spotted Flycatcher – 2 Culverwell

Sunrise over Portland Observatory

Willow Warbler - Pulpit Inn, Portland

Raven - Pulpit Inn, Portland

Spotted Flycatcher - Culverwell, Portland

Chrysotoxum cautum - Pulpit Inn, Portland

There is an abundance of Brown-tail Moth caterpillar at Portland