The last few autumns I have tried to stay at the Portland Bill bird observatory for at least one weekend, with the obvious exception of last year when restrictions were in place. I was pleased when I was able to book this weekend over a month ago, but as ever with this pre-booking approach, places such as Portland Bill which are migration hotspots are entirely weather dependent as to whether they are productive or not.
The last couple of weeks have been poor for migrant birds generally, with an almost continuous strong NW wind which doesn't look like changing anytime soon. Locally there have been very few birds at all, Black Down has been void of migrant birds and places along the coast do not seem to have the same numbers they would normally be experiencing in the last couple of weeks of September.
The forecast for this weekend looked awful, an increasingly strong WNW stormy conditions with plenty of rain, maybe the sea will produce something !.
The other challenge was fuel ! - In the middle of a fuel crisis caused, it would appear, by supply chain problems which in turn caused a panic, bleeding dry all stocks. After several attempts I managed to fill the car which would see me get there and back.
I called in at Ibsley water on the way, which was full of hirundines, mainly House Martins with over 1,000 but only around 25 Swallows and a couple of Sand Martins. Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Ringed Plover and Lapwing were the waders available but there was no sign of a Grey Phalarope which was present yesterday.
I continued to Weymouth and called in at Lodmoor where 5 Great Egrets, a Ruff and c30 Black-tailed Godwit we the only interest and by the time I was heading onto the Isle of Portland mid-afternoon the rain had started which set in for the rest of the day, the only real option was to seawatch with the highlights being c25 Balearic Shearwaters and 2 Arctic Skuas.
The stormy weather pattern was pretty much set for the next couple of days, the first couple of hours in the morning offered a period of dry breezy conditions and by late morning there was rain, only Saturday afternoon had a period of really un-birdable weather. Luckily, old friends Ralph and Brenda Todd were staying locally so I spent a fair bit of time birding with them. Even though most of the time was spent seawatching I did wander around the island occasionally, although battling with the strong wind made grounded passerines of any description at a premium.
The early morning watch did produce large numbers of moving Meadow Pipits, 'Alba' Wagtails, Linnets, Swallows and a few Skylarks, but over the few days the only other birds of note were a single Spotted Flycatcher in the Obs garden a few Blackcaps in one of the local quarries a single Wheatear, a small increase in Stonechat numbers and only a handful of Chiffchaffs.
A Short-Eared Owl which quartered the Crown Estate field one evening and a Little Owl in one of the quarries were surprisingly both year ticks for me.
So it was left to seabirds to make up for the lack of land birds, the highlights were a Long-tailed Skua, Sooty Shearwater, more Balearic Shearwaters, Manx Shearwater, several Arctic Skuas and Great Skuas and continuous passage of commoner seabirds including Razorbills, Guillemots, Kittiwakes, Gannets. A very large Gull flock was present although nothing more unusual was seen with them and a large passage of Med Gulls occurred on Sunday with over 300 birds passing.
I had arrived in rain and I left in rain, so possibly not quite as hoped, but it was still good to be out birding.
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| Little Owl |
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| Part of the significant flock of Gulls just off the coast. |
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| Linnets |
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| Linnets |
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