Goodbye to all that

Way back in 2003, when D#4 was but a small crawling baby, Mrs D's parents moved to Weymouth. Or more precisely, back to Weymouth. We started visiting regularly; there is no better place for small children, and there were grandparents too. I got to sneak off on occasion to birdwatch the local sites with the results you've seen here.

Roll forward 14 years, and things have changed. D#4 is a teenager worried about his trainers and playing computer games with his mates. D#1 has moved into the world of work, and the others don't find a long golden beach the attraction it once was. More significantly, Mrs D's father sadly departed this life a couple of years ago, and Mrs D's mother has moved away. So this weekend Mrs D and I  came down to tidy up some loose ends and close the door on a long and happy chapter.

Birdwise, its been good. Its not been as good as some have had down here, but the reality of birding Portland and Weymouth is that the birds come to those who put the hours in. Lots of stuff comes through for a day or two only, so if you are not down here when it turns up, you miss it. Nevertheless with such a variety of habitats as Portland bill, the top fields, Ferrybridge, Radipole, Lodmoor, Portland Harbour, and the fleet the standard bird list on any one day is really impressive.

I only really got to appreciate the place when I stopped worrying about the rarities. If you worry about the birds you miss it will eat into you in a big way. If you accept that you can't be everywhere all the time, and that wherever you are the birds in front of you are the ones you need to be looking at, then its a great place. Marsh Harriers, Bearded Tits, Water Rails, Peregrines, Auks, Terns, waders, passage migrants, they are all here.

The local birders have all been very welcoming and informative. I've not detected any of the suppression of some places and most are only too happy to tell you what's around and where to see it. Special mention to Martin Cade, warden at Portland Bird Obs. It goes without saying he knows his birds, but he knows most of the other island wildlife too. His generosity of time and explanation and warmth of welcome goes beyond the call of duty. Portland is lucky to have him.

But its time for different places and different birds. I can still come back, obviously, but its a three and a half hour trip so there and back in a day is difficult, and given I can get to just about the whole Norfolk coast and most of the Kent and Sussex coast in 2 hours I can't see why I wouldn't do that instead. And all that time in Weymouth has been time not in other places so I feel it is time for other places to get a visit.

So that's that for a while. Thank you Weymouth and Portland, and time for some new places and new birds.

Weymouth and Portland - the last time?

Some times, you know you are doing something for the last time. The last day at school, at University, at work, in a house. Other times, it is only after the event that you realise it was the last time; the last time you saw someone, the last time you went into a particular shop. Sometimes you have a sense that you may not be coming back - the last time you go to a particular country, visit a particular town.

Last Thursday may have been the last time I go to Portland Bill, the last walk round Lodmoor. And the last visit to Radipole may have already happened. Circumstances, more of which in a later post, mean that coming here again will take a particular effort, and given the effort, it is likely I will spend that effort going somewhere else that I haven't yet been to, or haven't visited in a while.

So, first off, park at Portland Obs, walk on to the patio, and there is Martin Cade with a fantastic male Redstart perched on his closed fist, calm as you like. Always a cracking bird, they really are better at the range of a few feet. A smashing start. A brief sea-watch has two Red-Throated Divers and 3 Common Scoter up-channel, two Wheatears in-off over our heads, and a Willow Warbler singing in the garden. I head off to the bill to get closer to the movement, but there isn't any in the conventional sense, just Gannets, Fulmars, a fly-by Shag, and on the sea small rafts of Guillemots and Razorbills. The Razorbills are the stars of the show, good scope views with the sun shining on them, just spectacular birds in brilliant white and glistening deep blue and not birds you see too often from a land-locked county like Herts. For me, its this kind of birding that makes Portland a special place.

A brief stop at Reap Lane. A scan has a probable Wheatear on a bush, so I set up my scope and go slowly through a large field. A total of 13 Wheatears, some movement in a generally NE direction with a couple of gorgeous males sat briefly on a nearby wire. 

Later in the day a walk round Lodmoor. Nothing too much here. There's a warbler singing from the reed bed. Its a sedge/reed, and i'm always rusty when I her them for the first time in spring, but with no chuck-chuck-char-chars and lots of whistling I'm confident its a sedge-warbler. There's some movement in the reeds, and a brief view confirms the uniform brown plumage of my first Reed Warbler of the year. Oh well, back to Xeno-Canto to brush up on my warbler songs.

About half way round I bump into a couple of birders. They ask me if I've seen much. Not really. There's a Dunlin on the pool where you come in, two cream crown Marsh Harriers doing their tumbling flight over the reed bed, up high there are about 20 Swallows and Sand Martins, there's been a Raven flying round the reserve for the last few minutes rolling over a couple of times and groncking away, but that's just flown off, and there have been a couple of Bearded Tits flying around just now. Judging from there crest-fallen look on their faces this is a good list, and indeed it is, a sign of what passes for normal at Lodmoor. They have "only" seen two Wheaters by the mound which I get later along with two-pairs of Oystercatcher.  Back to the car, turn out of the car park and into Weymouth, and that, Lodmoor, is that.

Two days in Dorset

Day 1 (16th) . A bright, cool day with some SW breeze. Portland Harbour held a Great Northern Diver, a Slavonian Grebe, and 5 Black-Necked Grebes. There were fewer Red-Breasted Mergansers than in previous winters, and a Shag was new for the year.  At Ferrybridge there was 12 Dark Bellied Brent Geese, a few Mediterranean Gulls, and a Sandwich Tern. And absolutely no waders. Then Lodmoor which was fairly quiet although there were 4 Wigeon which I don't often see here, a Marsh Harrier, and offshore a male Common Scoter. 

Shoveler at Lodmoor.

Portland Bill - Gannet, Fulmar, Guillemot and a single Kittiwake were all year ticks, onshore a flock of 10 Rock Pipits, the Obs quarry Little Owl, and up on the top fields a single Short-Eared Owl hunted the fields as the sun began to dip in the west.

Finally Raven. A bird of the wilderness, of the highest, remotest mountain tops, of sheer crags, and of tables at cafes.  I was quite taken aback to see a pair going through the detritus outside the cafe. If I had been sitting on a chair, I would have fallen off it. Close up, in the presence of Jackdaws, they were huge, great glossy black beasts. One flew off in that languid, relaxed way they have, as if they are making a point of it, but the other remained for some poor snaps.

Day 2. Dull, wet. I was going for the GGS at Wareham Forest, but gave that up as a bad job due to the rain. On to RSPB Arne for my first visit, but not, I hope, my last. A smashing reserve with a mixture of scarce habitats. The weather was awful; every time I looked at a bird it was a black blob against a white background through misted-up optics. Nevertheless I got what is a first for me, a Spoonbill that wasn't asleep. It flew in, did that swish-swish feeding thing, throwing up a few morsels in its spatula beak, and then flew off over a party of 20 Avocets. Otherwise it was some woodland birds including a  pair of Treecreepers chasing each other through the trees. One stopped and I guess saw me, because it froze at an awkward angle against a branch, seemingly waiting for me to move on, which I duly did.

Lots added to the YL which now stands at 114. The crawl round the M25 was made more passable by some appropriate music, and what could be more appropriate in they year of rain than When The Levee Breaks?

Half Term

Yes its half term, so its a few days in Weymouth again. There are Hume’s Warbler, and a Richard’s Pipit on the fleet, an elusive Iceland Gull and a Glossy Ibis. I saw none of them, but had one of the best half-terms I’ve had. Mainly due to a glorious quarter hour this morning at Lodmoor.

I was at the postbox on Beachdown Way watching a Marsh Harrier quartering the reeds. It had a pop at something, and for a moment I thought it was an owl, but through the scope it was obviously a Bittern. I spent the next fifteen minutes with it filling the frame. It was stationary mainly, perched on top of some compacted reed stems, stretching its neck, looking around and occasionally frilling up its neck. Then, a second bird appeared on the edge of the reeds and pecked around for a while before heading back into the reeds.

It’s amazing what a lift a sighting like that gives you. I practically floated round the rest of the reserve. It’s only the second sighting I’ve had in Weymouth in eight years of coming down regularly, and completely unexpected to see these birds wandering around. Perhaps it’s a regular spot - I’ll keep checking. If you go, stand by the Postbox on Beachdown Way, look towards the rubbish disposal site, and then look at the reeds between the two large areas of water between you and the dump.

Otherwise: C200 Lapwings was a reserve record for me, 10 Dunlin, c10 Wigeon, a Water Pipit, and offshore a Great Northern Diver. A male Pintail was at Radipole, and on the Fleet from the bridging camp on 14th were 3 Avocets, 6 Goldeneye, plenty of Mergansers, Curlews, Oyk’s and Brent Geese, and Mediterranean Gulls in their hundreds. And a Stonechat.

It’s odd what an impression you get of a place on a first visit. When I started watching Lodmoor in winter 2003 there was a Peregrine that sat on the central concrete block and terrorised the birds, and Stonechats were regular around the reserve. I assumed every winter was like that, but Peregrine is a scarce sighting for me here since and Stonechats come and go.

Finally some pictures from Radipole.

Not very good for birds

When in Weymouth, my regular morning chore is to walk the dogs. I normally go up the west side of the Wey, and then cross into the Reserve and up the buddleia loop to the bandstand that the RSPB has kindly provided so the local youth have somewhere to gather, light fires, and drink cheap cider.

I have explained to Mrs D that this walk isn't very good for birds, I wouldn't do it if it was just for the birds, and so this doesn't use any of my few birding credits.

Mrs D decided to accompany Elvis, Priscilla and me today, I took just the binoculars, and promised I'd mention any decent birds. I managed not to draw here attention to the Red Kite that flopped across the reserve (an unmarked one, so not the wing-tagged bird that was seen earlier in the year), and the Sparrowhawk going over was easy to ignore, but I couldn't avoid the Cuckoo that sat 10 yards away in the low branches of a tree and cu-coo'ing. Quite the best views of this species I've ever had, and given the way the population is declining probably the best I'll ever have.

"So it is quite good for birds then!" said Mrs D. "Well I think we've just been lucky today" I replied, whilst the resident pair of Marsh Harriers executed a perfect food pass just behind her.