There have been some decent birds this spring, including ones near me, but I have contrived to avoid them all.
Portland Bill has been going through a 'difficult' patch, but eventually migrants such as Redstarts and Whinchats made an appearance. But not for me. I got 15 Wheatears, which was fun, but just didn't connect with anything more notable.
27th April was a beautiful sunny day which did not have gale force winds so I persuaded Mrs D to take Derek the dog for a walk to Dancing Ledge for the Puffins. I parked up at Worth Matravers, checked my excellent OS Maps app, and I'd gone to the wrong Matravers! Should have been Langton Matravers!
We made the best of it and walked down to Winspit, along to Seacombe cliff, then back up. It was just beautiful. Like the Yorkshire Dales with cliffs and sea. There were lots of nice country birds, warblers, Stonechat, but no Puffins. I couldn't see any sign of Early Spider Orchid or GreenWinged Orchid either, but at some point a brown bird sat on a strand of barbed wire and boom! male Cirl Bunting. I spent a great ten minutes admiring this bird and his mate.
It's not a surprise to see this species here. They are pretty well established now all along this coast. But I find them hard to see so was very pleased to stumble across these.
Just a couple more outings; Lodmoor has had some decent days so I went down and found I had chosen a less productive day; Grey Plover, Bar-Tailed Godwit, then sat on the beach benches and found 3 Sanderling on a pontoon. Finally whilst scanning through the gulls I saw one with a marked W line on the wing. Quick check - black trailing edge, whiteish underwing, all black bill, but I couldn't get a decent view, and in all honesty the size was not ideal for Bonaparte's ... so I can't claim a previous sighting of the one that turned up the next day.
Then Ferrybridge. completely empty. No terns or waders. Just a single Wheatear and a Swift heading north.
Time for a change in approach!
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