Another weekend visit to Portland, staying for the night a Portland Bird Observatory and catching up with Gary and Glen and all the Portland regulars. Leaving early, I stopped off at Acres Down in the New Forest for a stroll. As soon as I parked up and opened the car door, the distant sound of a calling Cuckoo was a first for the year for me. Pretty surreal as temperatures were barely touching 4 degrees! Plenty of birdsong and at times difficult to pick out the different species as each tried to over-power the other in the continuous dawn chorus. Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiff chaff were abundant, but the highlight for me was a singing male Common Redstart, on territory, there song is one of my favourite and very distinctive. A couple of Crossbills flew over as did some very vocal Siskins. No sight or sound of any Wood Warbler so was time to head to the car to continue my journey to Potland and warm up.
Dolphins - distantly off Cheyne Weare - Portland
Reed Warbler - Culverwell - found this bird apparantley a first for the year at the 'bill'
Wheatear - always a delight and in good numbers too
Arriving in Weymouth and conditions good, I checked out Lodmoor, parking at the north end and did the circuit dodging dog walkers, cyclists and joggers. There was lots of hirundines hawking the reserve, mainly Sand Martin's but Swallow, House Martin and my first 6 Swifts of the year were seen higher up. Cetti's Warblers were everywhere and another yeartick in the form of a Lesser Whitethroat was rattling away and seen briefly. Was surprised to find no waders on the reserve and little else of note was seen but heard the 'pinging' of Bearded Tits as I walked through the reedbed along with many Reed Warblers. Only 2 Sedge Warbler were seen and heard
As I drove towards Portland, Martin Cade had tweeted that a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins were heading along the east cliffs off the bill. I decided to check off the car-park off Cheyne and within minutes I was watching the dolphins as the headed north, counting at least 8 and they were constantly being mobbed by gulls. I headed round to the prison as would gain closer views, but despite waiting here, they failed to arrive. Whilst here, the local gull and crow population were going mental, a Common Buzzard floated over-head and not the hoped for Osprey.
Glen had messaged to say they were watching a Ring Ouzel in the crown estate field, so headed down to the obs and struggled to park for a while as car park full as where the road-side verges. There was an army of birders lined up in the top fields and the thoughts of a rarity that had just been found flashed through my mind, but was a false alarm as everyone was watching a Redstart! A quick trudge around the top fields produced some good birds, Redstart, Short-eared Owl, Whitethroat, Wheatears dotted around. The Short-eared Owl was just viewable sat tight in a tree near the barns. There has also been new stables constructed up here now and appears to be some work/developing going on in the barn area, hopefully not too much! In Culverwell, I managed to pick out a Reed Warbler that showed well, returning to the obs, Pete proclaimed it was a first for the year for them so was pleased with that!
By now Gary had arrived and after a quick catch up and seeing a male Redstart in the hand, we headed to Cheyne to look for Wall Lizards, but no luck here today. A Wheatear, Blackcap and Peregrine made the stop worthwhile though. Onto Ferrybridge to see what was on offer there. Little Terns showed well with at least 4 birds present, at times fishing quite close, but the light was all wrong for any decent pics. Plenty of Sandwich Terns also fishing on the Fleet. Back at the obs, the Dolphins were putting on another show, viewed from the garden. We decided to head out for the evening early to catch the FA cup semi-final between Man Utd and Everton also meeting up with Joe Stockwell, followed by a Chinese takeaway and more beers back at the obs to conclude the day!
Peregrine Falcon at Cheyne
Little Terns at Ferrybridge - light all wrong for decent pics but glad to get some record shots
After a great nights sleep in the cottage at the obs, it was time to go again and hopefully find and see some decent spring migrants. The wind was all wrong for a sea-watch, but a single Bonxie and Arctic Skua were a nice bonus. A Firecrest showed briefly in the front garden along with a single Goldcrest. The wind was stronger than yesterday and was pretty damn cold making searching for any grounded migrants difficult. We checked out the top fields again, there was an obvious fall of Wheatears and was nice to find a male Yellow Wagtail that showed nicely before moving off north, another bird was also seen but again, did not hang around. The Short-eared Owl was sitting out in the open giving stunning, but a little distant views near the barns. A female Redstart was also a nice find as was a female Pied Flycatcher in Culverwell which Gary did well to pick out. Chilling at the obs, I caught a couple of snippets of a reeling Grasshopper Warbler in scrub next to the obs. It literally reeled for no more than 5 seconds at a time and I failed to get anyone else onto it. I thought I was going mad and starting to doubt myself, but Pete confirmed there was one reeling at the bottom of the garden and Julian had heard one earlier too. Later on, I heard it reeling again this time more distantly but enough to clinch it....no need to get the ears checked just yet :-). Time to head home, but got distracted by some good birding at Reap Lane and Barleycrates where giving the barns a good grilling, we found a couple of smart Whinchat, along with 2 Common Redstart. Blackcap and Wheatear were present in good numbers and a couple of Whitethroat passed through. A smart male Sparrowhawk was perched up and seeing what tired migrants he could pick up for tea!
A great weekend and good company, many firsts for the year happily ticked off, just love birding on Portland this time of year, just never know what you may see , on land and sea.
Thanks to Martin, Pete and all at the Obs for another great stay!
Holly Blue - again ' another first for the year for me'
