October 2025. Ring Ouzel at Portland Bill. Up there. Now.

October was okay. A few decent trips. Our local park has a few parakeets, on occasion getting into double figures, so a flock of over 40 steaming south on 2nd was a surprise. 

The 13th of October was a stand-out day on Portland. I walked round with Mrs D and the dog so saw a sprinkling of what was on offer, mainly the Red-Backed Shrike. As we took a break I accosted a young man with bins and camera who was walking up Sweet Hill and asked him what he had seen. He'd seen lots, "and a Ring Ouzel". 

Now Ring Ouzel is a bit of a bogey bird for me. I've seen a fair few, but I've missed more. Just a difficult and by no means annual bird for me. So I calmly asked where he'd seen the Ring Ouzel. He replied "Up there. Now." And up there was a thrush-shaped speck, which as we watched its path towards us became a full male with yellow bill and white crescent. It flew around a bit, then calling briefly dived into a privet hedge to be never seen again.

That's some birding chops to be able to call an Ouzel on that basis. By virtue of the attribution on the photo on this page the birder was local birder Joe Stockwell, who finds lots of stuff in the Portland area. Thanks Joe.