As the beer flowed, the outrageous prospect of heading SW was then brought up and in no time at all it was fixed! Sadly Jon & Kirsty couldn't join us and nor Sam as he was working. However Dave got in contact with several people and soon got local birders Andrew Dove and Martin Hopper to join us.
So the plan was to head straight for Devon, to Brixham (near Torquay) for the White Billed Diver, near by Cirl Buntings, then on Portland in Dorset for the mega rare Brunnich's Guillemot, as well as a nearby Glossy Ibis. It was set to be one hell of a day!
At the horrendously early hour of 5am we set off from Grange Park with Dave doing the first half of driving. After a long old journey, (including a bit of metal falling off my car causing a brief bit of worry. All ok in the end though!) we arrived just after 9am in rather wet conditions. However as if by magic it eased as we parked up by the harbour. We were greeted by the great site of Turnstones milling around along the streets and by the harbourside. Amazingly I even managed to entice one over to softly peck my finger!
In no time, while putting up my tripod Dave gave the call that he had the Diver in the inner harbour. Didn't realise how close though! We went on to enjoy brilliant views of the White Billed Diver for a fair while, even looking down on it at times, it was that close! It was a seriously impressive bird and that bill...wow what a weapon! There were also several Shags knocking about at pretty close quarters as well as the numerous Turnstones bombing around. Eventually the bird moved out of the inner harbour and that was then our cue to move on.
I then took over the driving, giving Dave a well earned rest. Next was the short journey along the coast to Labrador Bay near Teignmouth for Cirl Buntings, a lifer for Andrew. We were hit by a short sharp shower on arrival, but it didn't stop us very quickly connecting with around 10 Cirl Buntings in the hedge right next to the car park. Result!
It was then time for the next leg, a 2 hour jaunt down to Portland. Sadly it was just a bit risky going for the Bonaparte's Gull at Dawlish with the priority being the Brunnich's and time pressing on. We made great time, enjoying great views along the way, especially the views of Chesil beach close to Abbotsbury. We arrived around 1pm and after a confusing few minutes we found the place by Portland Castle. There were tonnes of birders about. It quickly became apparent that the bird had gone off in amongst the large amounts of boats moored up and was out of view. It was a nervous 15-20 minutes or so before eventually my first ever
Brunnich's Guillemot suddenly appeared down pretty close in front of us. YESSS! He proceeded to show really well although the combination of it frequently diving and a heavy rain shower made photography a very tricky business! Nevertheless it showed brilliantly and several times surfaced right in front of me, literally feet from the shore.
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The area was also a brilliant place for seabirds. As well the Brunnich's our list of sighting included 1-2 Black Throated Diver (a yeartick), a Black Guillemot, several Great Northern Diver, a female Eider, a Razorbill, a Guillemot, good numbers of Red Breasted Mergansers & Shags, as well as a lone Little Grebe.
Last stop of the day was a short trip away to adjacent Weymouth and to Radipole. We parked up by a small playing field opposite the RSPB Radipole Lake reserve. In no time at all we were on to the Glossy Ibis that had been present a little while now. It was a pretty bizarre place to have one, feeding in a flooded area of a football pitch. We enjoyed the bird for a while, watching it fly around and landing in a nearby tree, as well as seeing it join the prestigious 'shit list'! Around 3pm It was time for a well earned McDonalds. Dave promptly threw ketchup all down his trousers, but all in all it well bloody well received!!
The 3 hour journey home then began. A brilliant day and a really enjoyable trip with great company. Was such a bonkers beer-fuelled plan and we actually pulled it off, seeing all our targets. For me it brought two lifers in White Billed Diver and Brunnich's Guillemot. It also brought presumably 4 of my last yearticks of 2013, bringing the total to an impressive 246, agonisingly just short of 250. Finally a big thankyou to Dave for his 4 hour driving marathon, getting us to Brixham for 9am!
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