NPBO - Migration Action-station

Things haven't quite gone mad, but I've certainly got plenty to talk about from the last week. The floodgates seemed to have opened somewhat!

 

It's difficult to keep my eye on the ground at the moment, but there are some nice flowers about now, such as this tiny Wall Speedwell.





 

 

The other non-bird distraction at the moment is the running of a moth trap.  Not all that much happening to be honest, but a Pale Pinion was nice one morning.

 



 

I finally saw my first Swallow on the 1st, during a very quick break from work, and it was nice to see the Black Guillemot in its summer plumage the next day, even though it was not really photographable!



On the afternoon on the 2nd, I thought it worth having a quick look off Chesil after work.  There was nothing offshore, but that was greatly compensated by a Little Ringed Plover coming into land at Ferrybridge as I arrived!

The morning of the 3rd was uninviting, with horizontal rain, and poor visibility.  However, I thought it worth doing a seawatch with the southerly wind.  I found a piece of sheet metal on the beach to improvise into a surprisingly effective shelter!



These sorts of conditions always create spectacular weather sights.

There was a decent number of Common Scoter passing, but little else.  Then, I happened to glance over towards the harbour to be met by a glowing beacon of white sitting on the water, close-in - a male Goosander!  My first on Portland, let alone the patch!

 

Whilst I watched it, some Turnstone came scurrying around a few metres away.  Always nice to see.

 

 

For some reason, the rain stopping coincided with the sea passage totally stopping too, so I went up onto the land to do a visible migration watch at the West Cliffs.  During a great passage of Meadow Pipit (1600 in an hour), a Golden Plover was spotted flying around.  I later found it feeding along Weston Street.

 

 

Also during the aforementioned vismig watch, my first House Martin of the year was seen, and a Firecrest in a garden was incredibly visible from my flat window (if you saw the view I had, mostly of a vegetation-less brick-floored yard, you'd realise how unlikely a sighting that was!).

 

 

I attempted a seawatch in the evening, but got little reward beyond a couple of Grey Plover.  I then got a call from Joe Stockwell about a Gadwall in the Harbour - a valuable patch bird.  No problem spotting it among the Red-breasted Merganser.

 

The 5th appeared promising for sea passage, with a very light easterly wind.  I joined John Down and Paul Harris on the beach, and soon had a single distant Great Skua past.  This set the scene for the first Arctic Skua of the year not long after, followed by a Black-throated Diver. 

 

I moved back onto the land, and was rewarded with a nice fall of migrants everywhere, the best being 2 male Ring Ouzel at Suckthumb Quarry, and my first load of Willow Warbler.

 

A fantastic moment came at Barleycrates Lane, when I almost got a Wheatear in the face, as a bird dived for the bush I was next to, to avoid a stooping Peregrine! Astonishing.

 

I feel unusual experiences, such as the above, are just as important in the general excitement and fascination of wildlife watching, as rare species. 

 

Another one of those was observing a Carrion Crow tearing into a Slow Worm at Blacknor.

 

 

 After the quality morning seawatch, I thought it worth doing an evening stint too.  I hadn't been there long when the Gulls around the Harbour started to sound a warning.  Then suddenly, the large raft of Red-breasted Merganser took off as one - something I 'd never seen before.  I just knew there was an Osprey around, and indeed there was!  It took a little while to spot it, but it was found soaring high over Wyke with a Buzzard.

 

 

The seawatch was fairly uneventful, though it's always great to see tight-knit flocks of migrating birds, such as these Manx Shearwater. 

 

 

 

 

Joe's arrival on the scene provided a further highlight of a nice early flock of 5 Whimbrel heading up over Fortuneswell. 

 

Yesterday is barely worth mentioning, apart from the fact that I narrowly missed all 3 patch ticks on offer (Red Kite, Short-eared Owl, Redstart, plus another Osprey)!  After the luck I had the day before, I really shouldn't complain though!

 

Today was another enjoyable morning, as on arrival at Chesil I found a close-in summer-plumaged Slavonian Grebe...  

 

 

 

...plus the valuable patch tick of 4 Avocet bombing back and forth.

The seawatch was a very enjoyable one as there was great variety.  Now with Joe, we were treated to good numbers of Black-headed Gull and Common Scoter passing, along with a very surprise female Goosander, and a Little Ringed Plover which was spotted as it flew towards Ferrybridge.

A look round the land finally produced the 1st-summer male Redstart at Suckthumb Quarry, or be it briefly.

It's finally sunk in just what a good spot Chesil is for watching migration.  It may not be quite so lavishly furnished, but the memorial stone on the beach is now (as far as I'm concerned) the North Portland Bird Observatory! ;-)

P.S. Sorry I'm taking ages on my post about the Chesil Gull, but I'm sure you'll understand when I say birding is getting in the way!



Shear Numbers but Fea-less

I've managed to get out for a little more birding recently, though I've yet to tap into the rich vein of Portland birding, as usual.

 

 

On the 6th I was able to make a few brief excursions around the island, finding a distant feeding flock of seabirds that included a Balearic Shearwater and an intruding Great Skua off the West cliffs.

 

Plus, on the 8th I spent an hour or two at Ferrybridge seeing a Greenshank flying over, the long-staying Red-necked Grebe in the harbour, plus juvenile Redshank and Yellow-legged Gull on the mud.

 

A quick whizz round the middle of the island produced a few warblers as well as a couple of calling Tree Pipit.

 

But, it was on the 10th when the real birding came. 

 

I drove three hours down to Cornwall the previous evening, slept in the car, then picked up Samuel Perfect from Falmouth first thing, before making our way over to Pendeen in forecast strong North-westerlies.

 

The view from the cliffs below the lighthouse is impressive.  The rocks provide useful landmarks for calling out the position of birds.

 



 

 

It wasn't long before we had a large Shearwater in the bag, as a Cory's Shearwater passed distantly.  A few minutes later the first Great Shearwater sweeped into view, but this was quite a dark one without the obvious pale bands at each end.

 

Soon enough however we got brilliant views of both species, with one or two Sooty Shearwater and Balearic Shearwater amongst the hundreds of Manx Shearwater into the bargain.  Shear heaven!

 

It wasn't easy for everyone present to find sufficient shelter, particularly as the wind veered round to the north slightly.

 



This was the sort of typical views of the closer Manxies (plus Gannet), and just the one large Shear, a Great, came this close, but what a belter that was in perfect light!

A few other things were called during the 10 hours we were there, such as all three common Skua, though I only saw the one distant immature Pomarine Skua.  Also a Storm Petrel was a great find pattering around just beyond the rocks.

Talking of rocks, I suspect virtually everyone present totally ignored the fact that the Lichen here were very impressive with 5-6 species on one rock.  This one was rather photogenic.

In the end, I saw about 15 Great, 12 Cory's, 3 Sooty, and 3 Balearic Shearwater.  The only disappointment really was hearing of a Fea's Petrel passing nearby St Agnes Head, and not having it past here!  We were all so hyped to see that!  Nonetheless, a fantastic day, and my first double UK-lifer day for 15 months.

A little look in Chesil Cove this morning produced just a pair of piratical Arctic Skua going after the Terns.  I was half hoping to see a Cory's scything about in there, now I know what to look for!

Things have got to improve on the land shortly hopefully, once this wind dies down.