Before recommencing a spell of full time working I had booked 3 nights at Portland Bill again. The weather had been poor before I went and was poor when I was there. Generally very strong WSW winds with rain so despite being peak migration in mid-October it was hampered by adverse conditions.
On the way to Dorset I stopped at Blashford Lakes. It was very wet but the brand new hide made for easy viewing over Ibsley Water where there were lots of Hirundines 1
00+ House Martins 20+ Swallows and a late
Sand Martin also amongst the handful of
Tufted Duck and
Pochard a female or 1W male-type
Scaup.
The rain continued and I headed towards Weymouth listening to the Scotland v Japan rugby match on the radio. The showers were starting to relent when I reached Lodmoor, where I stopped for an hour. A
Ruff and a
Greenshank were the best of the waders on offer and other birds included
Marsh Harrier, Peregrine and a
Great Egret. By the time I was driving onto the Isle of Portland the weather was clearing but with it a strong wind and not a lot had been around when I arrived at the observatory and my late afternoon wander around the bill area only yielded a
Wheatear and a
Blackcap, although the local Little Owls were nice to see.
Next day within an hour of dawn heavy rain and strong winds dominated the first few hours of the day limiting what birding could be achieved to an early sea watch where despite the large
Gannet and
Kittiwake movement only an single
Arctic Skua and a couple of
Manx Shearwaters added to the variety. The wind had swung round to an Easterly at least momentarily, so there was some anticipation there would be a bit of a fall and as the wind eased enough to venture out it was clear there had been some migrants which included more
Goldcrests a
Yellow-browed Warbler briefly. By midday I started to venture more widely, there were more
Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Wheatears and
Stonechat in the area and lots of
Pied Wagtail and
Meadow Pipit moving through with a brief
Merlin chasing the activity. I heard about a
Red-breasted Flycatcher reported from the Hump , so I decided to head back to the Obs and drive there as I approached the observatory a
Wryneck flew into a bramble hedge, after several seconds it flew further along the hedge then down onto the grass out of view, o I headed back to the obs and reported the bird before then heading off to the Hump area . Not entirely sure where the RBF was , I wandered the area finding 2 late
Spotted Flycatchers before finding the small copse where other birders were watching the
Red-breasted Flycatcher, it was quite dark in the gully so views were ok but the light was poor, but his was a good end to a pretty decent day.
The winds returned to brisk SW direction the next morning, but the highlight today was meeting up with Ralph & Brenda Todd, who I ended up spending the day with. In the morning we walked the observatory area where there were no additional arrivals although a better view of a
Merlin. We then went off the island to Lodmoor and caught up with the
White-rumped Sandpiper which had been there since yesterday and on the way back stopped again at the Hump where the
Red-breasted Flycatcher gave better views than the previous evening. So a decent couple of days rather in unseasonal mild and windy weather.
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| Red-breasted FLycatcher in dark understory |
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| Stonechat |
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| Merlin |
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Great Egret
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| Ruff |
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| Red-breasted Flycatcher |
