Portland Bill - 15th September

Before a Dormouse survey near to Dorchester I popped to Portland Bill for a couple of hours birding. I parked in the main car park and birded the lighthouse, Pulpit Inn and Observatory area. The bushes were alive with Chiffchaff and with good numbers of Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Whitethroat as well as Redstart, Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Yellow Wagtail and a Hobby flew north. I spent some time at the Observatory Quarry where the Wryneck showed well eventually, it would disapear for long periods under the Brambles to feed.

My eBird checklist for the morning can be viewed here.

Wryneck - Observatory Quarry, Portland Bill

Wryneck - Observatory Quarry, Portland Bill

Little Owl - Observatory Quarry, Portland Bill

Northern Wheatear - Portland Bill

Chiffchaff - Bird Observatory, Portland Bill

Pennington Marsh - 12th November

After dropping Tobias at school I had a short wander around Pennington Marsh. It was a beautiful clear day but in the Force 5-6 NW wind it was distinctly cold and wintery. The water levels in the lagoons were high as was the tide and there were large numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Shoveler, Brent Goose, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin on the flooded meadows. There was a single white-headed Ruff amongst the Godwits and at least three Water Pipit forced to the edges of the marshes by the high-water. A male Marsh Harrier caused the birds to fly also flushing around 75 Golden Plover from the marshes. A single Chiffchaff was present in the Bramble of the old landfill.

Water Pipit - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Chiffchaff - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Grey Heron - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Oystercatcher and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal and Dunlin - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Wigeon and Pintail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler, Lapwing and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler and Wigeon - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shetland - 14th October

My plan today was to bird the west coast of mainland Shetland tin the hope of finding a mega yank warbler, I was aiming for Tresta and then around the coast via Walls and then to Sandness.

I was on the road at 07:30 and stopping at a view point on the A971 as it swings around the Hill of Sound I scanned into Weisdale Voe hoping for an Orca fin. Looking at the village of Cott below I noticed a great deal of scrub and woodland and so I back tracked and spent the first few hours birding the gardens and the small graveyard which has a number of mature sycamore. It was a great area but there was not a lot to be seen, I recorded three Blackcap, four Goldcrest, 35 Redwing and 10 Fieldfare, still it was a great area and definitely worth a visit.

I then headed to Tresta and birded the area around the Methodist Chapel recording two Goldcrest and a Yellow-browed Warbler. News then broke of a Brown Shrike at Grutness, I considered my options, continue with my plan or dash down for the shrike. The shrike option won and off I went on the 50-minute high speed drive to the south of the island.

I arrived at Grutness at around 12:00 just as the shrike had flown over the brow of the cabbage field it had been frequenting. I drove around the field and up the road to Sumburgh, parked and went climbed the fence to cross the field to where the bird was, but as I grabbed the fence to climb over I received a bolt of electricity that knocked me backwards and off my feet – I had grabbed the electric fence encircling the field, there was no warning placed on the fence. I picked myself up, dusted myself down and then climbed the gate into the field now with a very numb right arm. I got to the group of birders and was soon on the Brown Shrike, relieved to have the bird but my fingers were so numb from the shock that I could hardly focus my binoculars. I spent the next couple of hours with the shrike as it ranged between Grutness Beach, the lighthouse road out beyond Sumburgh Farm and down to Sumburgh Hotel. It was covering some ground as it ranged the fields. On a number of occasions, it was seen to catch White-tailed Bumblebee and impale them on the barbed wire fence. Eventually I left the bird as it went down to Grutness Beach and travelled along the beach towards the airport.

To the end of 2018 there have been 25 UK records of Brown Shrike in Great Britain with the first being from 1985 from Sumburgh. There has been a single spring record with the remainder occurring in September to November, the peak month being September. Shetland has the largest number of records with eight to the end of 2018. This was my second in the UK after seeing the bird that wintered on Staines Moor, Surrey from 11th October 2009 to 2nd January 2010.

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike with White-tailed Bumblebee - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

After grabbing a coffee, I headed north up the island and spent the last couple of hours of daylight birding Stonybrake, Upperton and Netherton recording three Mealy Redpoll, one Lesser Redpoll, Blackcap, Red-throated Diver and a greyish Chiffchaff probably of the subspecies abietinus. News then broke of a Black-throated Thrush on Ward of Scousburgh and so I made a dash for this in the fading light but unsurprisingly was unsuccessful. I headed to the hotel for a much-needed shower and a cold beer.

Starling - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Starling - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Starling - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Goldcrest - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Goldcrest - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Cott, Mainland Shetland

Lesser Redpoll - Upperton, Mainland Shetland

Red-throated Diver - Netherton, Mainland Shetland

A rather cold and greyish Chiffchaff, possibly of the subspecies abeitinus, it gave a mournful bisyllabic call with a downward inflected second part to the call - Netherton, Mainland Shetland

Chiffchaff (same bird as above) - Netherton, Mainland Shetland

Shetland - 13th October

I started the morning birding at Fladderbister with high hopes, this is one of my favourite birding spots on Shetland and I always have great expectations when I visit this place. The winds were light north-east and it was clear with sunny spells. I spent some time birding around the village and ruins and then along the road to the south. It was slow going, in the three hours I was here I recorded an Eastern-type Lesser Whitethroat with a sandy coloured mantle, a Yellow-browed Warbler, five Goldcrest, a late Willow Warbler and 35 Redwing. I was just wandering back to the car wondering what to do next when news broke of the long-staying Snowy Owl showing on Ronas Hill in the north of the island and so, having considered it yesterday but bailing out when the news of the Lesser Grey Shrike broke, I decided to go for it today.

Eastern-type Lesser Whitethroat - Fladderbister, Mainland Shetland

Chiffchaff - Fladderbister, Mainland Shetland

Yellow-browed Warbler - Fladderbister, Mainland Shetland

Shetland Wren - Fladderbister, Mainland Shetland

I stopped at Lerwick to grab some lunch and then drove the 50 minutes or so north and then up the track to the masts on Collafirth Hill where I parked. It was then a 3 km walk north-west to an area known as The Hadd on the southern edge of Loch of the Hadd. The landscape was spectacular with wet cotton-grass bog, heather and exposed granite, it felt like the middle of nowhere. The walk produced a Merlin and a high flying flock of around 50 Snow Bunting. Having joined up with a couple of birders it seemed like a long walk but eventually we saw a small group of other birders looking through their scopes, as we joined them I recognised Dan Houghton. Dan showed me the Snowy Owl through his scope which was sitting on a ridge some 200m or so away in a slight heat haze and so not the best of views. This was a stunning, mainly white male, which as far as could be seen had black barring restricted to the flanks. I was back at the car for 15:45 and decided to spent the last hour or so of birdable daylight at Lower Voe. There was not a lot to be seen as the sun was off the trees and in the hour or so I was here the only bird of note was a Spotted Flycatcher. I headed off and was back to the hotel by 17:45.

Snowy Owl - The Hadd, Ronas Hill, Mainland Shetland

Ronas Hill, Mainland Shetland with Yell in the distance

Ronas Hill, Mainland Shetland with Yell in the distance

The Hadd and the Loch of the Hadd, Ronas Hill, Mainland Shetland

This was the view point for the Snowy Owl, the bird was on the left hand most ridge - Loch of the Hadd, Ronas Hill, Mainland Shetland

Ronas Hill, Mainland Shetland

Ronas Hill, Mainland Shetland with Yell in the distance

Cheesefoot Head and Fishlake Meadows - 8th-9th April

Time has been very tight of late and it appears that the spring is slipping by without me being able to get into the field to enjoy the migrants arriving.

On 8th April I popped to Cheesefoot Head to the east of Winchester where two Dotterel had been present since 6th April. At times the birds had been showing well but I arrived just as the birds had flown and it took some time to relocate the birds, when they were relocated they were just about central within a large wheat field and views were distant through the heat haze. The female bird was just gaining some black on the belly and rufous on the underparts, the male was rather drab. Also here was a single singing Corn Bunting, several Yellowhammer and good numbers of Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

Distant Dotterel in the heat haze at Cheesefoot Head, the female is the left hand bird.

The Dotterel were in the middle of this large field

Cheesefoot Head

On 8th and 9th April I popped into Fishlake Meadows Hampshire Wildlife Trust reserve on the northern outskirts of Romsey. This reserve is only a few minutes from my house but I rarely visit, as previously access has been difficult away from the canal path along the eastern edge of the reserve and a path along the northern edge or one had to lurk, dubiously, behind a bus shelter to view the areas of open water. Now that the reserve has been taken over by the Trust there are hard surfaced paths and viewing screens - its really quite a pleasant reserve.

Over the couple of days that I visited I had great views of a pair of Garganey (unfortunately my camera had run out of juice), three Great White Egret, a Glossy Ibis in a pony paddock to the east of the reserve and my first Sedge Warbler (3), Reed Warbler (1), Swallow (6), House Martin (4) and Sand Martin (25) of the year. Also here were good numbers of Pochard, Shoveler, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting and Cetti's Warbler.

Great White Egret - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Chiffchaff - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Grey Wagtail - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Cetti's Warbler - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Great White Egret - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Glossy Ibis - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey