The intention was to seawatch for a couple of hours but as I drove along the road towards the observatory there were half a dozen birders at the side of the road watching something. I stopped and managed some brief views of a Chough before it flew off! It was the first in Dorset for over 20 years I gather and it brought all of the local birders out to tick it. I carried on down to the car park and there was the Chough be chased by two Jackdaws. I then had some close but brief views near the huts but it was fairly mobile. Rather than chase it all morning I decided to try and see the Serin that had been seen earlier that morning. However it was not seen again all morning. I did stop off to look in the quarry near the Obs and there was the regular Little Owl.
So I then went sea watching for an hour or two. There was nothing of great note to be seen but there were birds milling around everywhere. Huge number of Herring Gulls and quite a lot of Gannets and Kittiwakes offshore. Regular Guillemots returning to the breeding colony. A single Fulmar and Shags were the best birds.
 |
| Portland Bill Lighthouse |
 |
| Chough - Getting down to some serious feeding! |
 |
| Chough - It was very flighty |
 |
| Chough - Not great photos but in a rush before it flew off! |
 |
| Little Owl - In it's favourite perching place. |
 |
| Wheatear - One of several seen. |
No comments:
Post a Comment