Day 2 Brownsea

Up bright and early at first light to be greeted by the Barfleur passing by

Counted 216 Sandwich Tern leaving the harbour which I would say is some count given the time of year. Most of these were migrants that had spent the night on the lagoon, the local birds had since departed. Also heading out were 45 Commics virtually in one flock which no doubt included the Arctics that had been seen last night.

This time a Shag fishing close in shore

A few Terns also hanging around

Roosting Oyks

As the tide began to drop birds started to leave for their feeding areas. A large majority flew straight over the quay then headed south and south west to the southern shoreline

After waving off the last boat of the day, made my way to the lagoon for the evening watch. Ewan had reported a rather long bodied looking peep so was watching out for that when this thing appeared on the island. To say I was quite surprised was an understatement, not the usual sort of place you would expect to find a Buff-breasted Sand. A few people on the island including Chris Thain managed to get there before it got too dark. Unfortunately Mark and Mo had left that morning so they were not best pleased!

Couldnt find Ewans 'odd' bird but did manage 24 Arctic Terns that had come in to roost.

One intermedius also in the gull roost

Middlebere + Brownsea

Early next morning and with some strong winds still about, wanted to see if anything else was tempted up the channel, but alas not.

Up to 9 Spoonbills now which were there at first light

Another Middlebere regular soon put pay to their loafing

Unfortunately still a bit dark for fast shutter speeds

Later made my way to Brownsea where I was greeted by Mark at the quay who had kindly invited me to stay at the cottage he and Mo were renting for the week.

Cormorant fishing close in

Odd sort of growth here on the lower mandible

The cottage was on the quayside and on an Oystercatcher flightline

Also a few Terns passing

As well as the odd Snowlark.

Looked this one up later and found it was flying under the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

In the evening we went to record the very vocal Cormorant roost on the lagoon. They dont roost on the main spit like in the daytime but use all the scattered islands including the Tern islands which does become a problem in the summer.

There was quite a substantial Gull roost also, presumably due to the high winds in the bay. In with the many Herring and GBBGs there was one intermedius and just a couple of graellsii and then there was this individual below, which was easily as dark as the GBBGs and really quite small. Check out the size of the HGs behind which are further away. Also around 12 Arctic Terns roosting

Middlebere Sabine's Gull

Had a call from Steve Smith to say he was watching a juv Sabine's Gull at Middlebere. Didnt waste any time getting down there which proved the right thing to do as within a minute of me arriving it was off down the channel. It did seem quite settled as I scoped it on the water but with no warning it was up and off. Managed to grab the camera out of the bag but only got this terrible shot of it flying away

That was the last time it was seen despite a lot of searching in the area. Whilst we were waiting to see if it would come back a couple of Terns went through together. A Common and this juv Arctic

We were also treated to a visit by this lovely Fox

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

Portland etc

A change in the wind direction to easterlies saw me make my way to Portland this morning for a few days. Bit quiet today though.

Around 10 we had a call that Stan had found a juv Caspian Gull at Radipole. Didnt get there in time though. This was the best I could come up with.

Stopped in at Ferrybridge on the way back to Portland where there were 4 Sanderling hanging around with a Dunlin