Friday, September 2, 2011

Portland, day 2 and 3

Made full use of staying overnight by getting up at 4am to have a listen. As expected Waders were the main feature with a flock of Ringed Plover over, 2 Grey Plover calls and 2 Common Sand calls.
Interestingly the Yellow Wagtails were quite vocal in the pitch black, not sure quite what they were up to. Also a couple of Tree Pipit flight calls heard.
An early Short-eared Owl just after dawn didnt hang around.
Some time later in the morning 2 Wrynecks were found together just above Culverwell


The easterlies continued on day 3. A Merlin was dashing about at the bill quarry and surprise of the day was this bird by the lighthouse. Green ring giving away its captive origin


I did notice that there was some movement at sea so decided to watch for a while. Some birds were coming by reasonably close so had a go at taking a few shots despite the low light levels





There was quite a decent movement of Manxies and at least 5 Balearics




First Clouded Yellow of the autumn was at East Cliffs and this Hummingbird Hawk Moth was in the Obs garden