Rock Thrush - Pwll du Quarry, Abergavenny, Gwent - 20th October

News of a male Rock Thrush found at Pwll du Quarry, Gwent (SO244119) on 12th October gave me  twitching pangs. I had long wanted to see this species in the UK but previous records have either been too far away, fleeting stayers or I have just not had the time to go see them. But this bird seemed to be sticking and so come Friday 20th I had planned an early start for the 2.5 hour drive to see the bird. Arriving at 07:30 as the sun was rising I walked the mile or so northwards from the parking area to the quarry that the bird had been frequenting. The view was stunning across the Welsh valleys as the sun rose and Redwing called from the hedgerows. At the quarry there were five other birders and we searched the quarry face and boulder scree with no luck. At 09:45 the shout went up that the bird was in the second quarry so after a short dash back I joined a small group of birders watching the bird preen and stretch atop the quarry, the bird had evidently just emerged from its roost. After a short while the bird flew 100 metres north and settlled in its favoured quarry. Over the next couple of hours I enjoyed stunning views of this fantastic bird down to seven metres as it fed on the grassland in the quarry consuming beetle grubs and on one occasion a fully grown Devil's Coach Horse. There were no more than 20 birders here during my time. Also in the quarry was a single Wheatear and five Crossbill flew west overhead.

A poor flight shot showing the red underwing

Northern Wheatear - Pwll du Quarry, Gwent

World distribution of Rock Thrush (from HBW Alive)

Rock Thrush twitch

Rock Thrush favoured quarry

The view from the walk back to the car

The view from the walk back to the car

Portland and Lodmoor - 15th October

Another morning at Portland saw me arriving in the car park at the Bill at 07:30 just as the sun was rising. Overhead passed large numbers of 'Alba' Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Linnet and Goldfinch while three Siskin and two Reed Bunting also passed over. In the grassland beside the Quintiq compound were two Firecrest. I wandered a short way northwards along the West Cliffs and around the back of the Pulpit Inn recording another four Firecrest with another two in the scrub infront of the Old Boat House building. It was evident that there had been an overnight fall of Firecrest. I wandered over to the Observatory Quarry where there were another two Firecrest and a Hawfinch calling from the bushes before flying east over the observatory garden. Wandering through the scrub at the Hut Fields I recorded a Chiffchaff, Blackcap and another three Firecrest while overhead there was a continuoosu stream of Alba Wagtail, Linnet and Meadow Pipit. Walking along the East Cliffs, the paddocks were full of Alba Wagtail and Meadow Pipit while two Wheatear showed well. In the scrub along the East Cliffs there were further Firecrest, another Hawfinch, three Blackcap and two Chiffchaff. Heading towards Culverwell I bumped into some birders who reported that a Radde's Warbler had been heard in the scrub, the nets had been opened and I waited around to see if it was caught. Three Firecrest, two Blackcap and a Whinchat were here but no sign of the Radde's so I gave up and headed over the Top Fields where the highlights were a Yellow-browed Warbler and further Firecrest. News broke that the Radde's had been captured in the observatory garden soon after I had left Culverwell.

I decided to head to the observatory and spend my last hour or so here as the Radde's had been released into the observatory quarry but other than more Firecrest, a Snipe and a Mistle Thrush flying north I saw little. I was time to head off but a total of 54 Firecrest for the morning was amazing - the Portland Observatory blog reported around 150 birds in the Bill area and an account of the day can be read here.

Firecrest - Hut Fields, Portland

Wheatear - Paddocks along East Cliffs, Portland

Chiffchaff - Culverwell, Portland

Blackcap - Top Fields, Portland

'Alba' Wagtail were abundant at Portland today but all those that I had decent views of 

were Pied Wagtail - Top Fields, Portland

Pied Wagtail - Top Fields, Portland

Pied Wagtail - Top Fields, Portland

I had around an hour to spare so popped into Lodmoor for a Lesser Yellowlegs that had been present since 5th October and I eventually caught up with it along the western side of the reserve but it wasn't showing especially well. Also here were three Little Stint, four Ruff, two Green Sandpiper and a Great White Egret.

Ruff - Lodmoor RSPB

Lesser Yellowlegs - Lodmoor RSPB

Pennington Marsh - 5th October

It was a beautiful October day and after dropping Tobias at school I was going to spent the day at Pennington Marsh until it was time to pick him up at 15:30. After a coffee at the corner of Lower Pennington Lane I walked along the full length of the Ancient Highway. It took me almost two hours to walk the 500m or so! I was absorbed in the bushes trying to find a decent bird but in a north-westerly I was not too hopeful. Other than fair numbers of Chiffchaff and Goldcrest there was little to be found. The highlight was an obliging Lesser Whitethroat which despite my best efforts I couldn't turn into one of the eastern races. Three Bearded Reedling passed high overhead to the east, I guess these were local birds simply moving around the site. There was some visible migration evident and I recorded a total of 26 Swallow, 11 House Martin, six Siskin, eight Redpoll and 24 Sky Lark moving west. I spent a fair bit of time around the plantation at the west end of the Ancient Highway but there was little to be seen.

Lesser Whitethroat - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Lesser Whitethroat - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Lesser Whitethroat - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Lesser Whitethroat - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

As I wandered around the seawall it was evident that the tide was very high and the waders on the salt marsh were tiptoeing in knee-deeps water when normally they would be high and dry. Scanning through their ranks there were many Dunlin and Grey Plover and I counted a total of 185 Curlew. Scanning over the scrub looking for the Wryneck that has been present recently I picked up an immature Sparrowhawk that was harassing the pipits, a Marsh Harrier and a Red Kite flew north over. Red Kite is still a scarce bird here.

Sparrowhawk - Iley Point, Pennington Marsh

Walking around the seawall an obliging Wheatear was on the track while at Fishtail there were good numbers of wader with 180 Black-tailed Godwit, six Snipe and 90 Lapwing along with small numbers of Redshank and Dunlin. I watched a pair of Mallard foraging in the shallows accompanied by three Little Grebe, the Little Grebe were diving in the 'slip stream' of the Mallard and were clearly foraging for prey items (small invertebrates) disturbed by the Mallard - I do not recall seeing this feeding association before. Scanning over the saltmarsh I picked up an immature female Merlin chasing a Meadow Pipit which it eventually downed over the scrub at Iley Point.

Wheatear - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Wheatear - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Foraging Mallard accompanied by Little Grebe - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

At the Jetty there were around 30 Turnstone and 15 Dunlin feeding on the seaweed that has accumulated on the beach - quite unusual that the beach is not disturbed by dogs so I spent a little time he photographing them. I then headed along the seawall past Pennington Lagoon before cutting inland and back to the car.

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Turnstone - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Chiffchaff - Pennington Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Day Totals

Wigeon - 147

Teal - 295

Pintail - 10

Shoveler - 46

Red-breasted Merganser - 1

Marsh Harrier - 1

Red Kite - 1

Water Rail - 4

Lapwing - 125

Curlew - 215

Black-tailed Godwit - 207

Bar-tailed Godwit - 3

Greenshank - 5

Spotted Redshank - 4

Snipe - 8

Peregrine - 1

Merlin - 1 immature female

Goldcrest - 9

Bearded Reedling - 3

Sky Lark - 24 west

Swallow - 26 west

House Martin - 11

Chiffchaff - 9

Blackcap - 3

Lesser Whitethroat - 1

Stonechat - 11

Wheatear - 5

Siskin - 6 west

Redpoll - 8 west

Portland - 25th September

It was my birthday today and so I took the day off to go birding. In previous years I have visited the Isles of Scilly but now that Tobias is at school this was not an option so I had decided to spend the day at Portland. The alarm went off at 04:30 and after a few coffee’s I was off and in the main car park at the Bill at 06:45 just as it was getting light. As I opened the car door I could here large numbers of Meadow Pipit and Linnet passing overhead with a few Grey Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail. Off the Bill a pod of around 15 Bottle-nosed Dolphin with around five calves were showing well as they frolicked around a fishing boat. I wandered towards the observatory firstly walking the perimeter of the Pulpit Inn and then to the quarry and past the bushes on the western boundary of the observatory. Large numbers of Meadow Pipit and Linnet were clearly on the move, there were at least 15 Wheatear in the fields while the bushes held good numbers of warblers with three Blackcap and eight Chiffchaff in the observatory quarry.

In the observatory garden there were around five Chiffchaff, two Willow Warbler and a smart Yellow-browed Warbler but no sign of the Greenish Warbler that had been trapped and ringed yesterday although the bird had been showing earlier in the morning. After around 1.5 hours looking for the Greenish Warbler I decided that I would rather go birding so wandered along to Culverwell, up over the Top Fields to the West Cliffs, along Sweet Hill Lane to Southwell and back along the East Cliffs to the observatory. There were large numbers of Linnet, Meadow Pipit and good numbers of Swallow with a few Sand Martin and House Martin passing over. In the fields there were a scatter of Wheatear, probably 10 in total, and two Whinchat. The Sycamores at the north-west end of Sweet Hill Lane held a single Chiffchaff and a Spotted Flycatcher. Back at the observatory the Greenish Warbler had shown again and so I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon looking for it. Within around 30 minutes I had a view of the Greenish Warbler along the access drive the observatory and over the next hour or two it showed fairly well on and off. It was quite a washed out and worn adult bird with a very indistinct wing bar. The was a new British bird for me, I had previously only seen Two-barred Greenish Warbler in the UK, the first British record on Gugh, Isle of Scilly in 1987. The Yellow-browed Warbler also showed well on and off and I spent and enjoyable couple of hours with these birds. It was 15:00 and time to head for home, a brief stop at The Fleet produced little of note. I had had a good day with a British tick and a lifer moth (see below).

Greenish Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Greenish Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Greenish Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Greenish Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Yellow-browed Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Bottle-nosed Dolphin (two adult and a calf) off Portland Bill early AM

Portland Lighthouses

Wheatear - Top Fields, Portland

Raven - West Cliffs, Portland

Kestrel - Reap Lane, Portland

Kestrel - Reap Lane, Portland 

Ziton Jack-up Vessel off the East Cliffs, Portland - The large struts extend down to the seabed raising the vessel from the water to create a stable platform. These vessels are used to service offshore wind farms.

Beautiful Gothic from the observatory moth trap. This is a Red Data Book 

species and a new moth for me.

Beautiful Gothic from the observatory moth trap

Goldspot from the observatory moth trap

East Cliffs viewed north, Portland

My days totals were as follows:

Goldcrest - 3

Skylark - 17

Swallow - 240

Sand Martin - 5

House Martin - 25

Willow Warbler - 2

Chiffchaff - 35

Yellow-browed Warbler - 1

Greenish Warbler - 1

Sedge Warbler - 1

Lesser Whitethroat - 1

Blackcap - 6

Spotted Flycatcher - 1

Wheatear - 15

Stonechat - 3

Yellow Wagtail - 9

Reed Bunting - 1

An account of the day on the Portland Bird Observatory blog can be viewed here