On the Friday, we had a look at Durdle Door; such a stunning place, however a very bloody cold one while we were there! A couple of Peregrine were zooming around here and at least 4 Stonechat were flicking around between the car park and the beach.
The next day, (Saturday 14/03) after spending a bit of time in Dorchester, we weaved our way through Weymouth and visited Portland Bill and the Bird Observatory. Here, for pretty much the only flipping time all weekend, the sun came out!
Here a female-type Black Redstart was busying around on rough ground close to the lighthouse and plenty of Guillemots, a Gannet and several Shags were offshore. Several Rock Pipits were also foraging around the rocks down by the shoreline.
A quick visit to the Obs to have a look at the book shop was well worth the visit. We had great views of a Firecrest silently foraging around the trees in the Obs garden, along with a presumably migrant Chiffchaff. Firecrests have to be one of my favourite birds; an absolute masterpiece in miniature!
On leaving Portland, a quick 10 minutes at both Portland Harbour & at Ferrybridge delivered few birds of note other than several Red Breasted Merganser and a few Shags. Here, it was also the chance to reminisce, remembering watching the Brunnich's Guillemot several of us enjoyed in the pouring rain, back in 2013.
A walk along Chesil Beach near Abbotsbury revealed my first Red Throated Diver offshore, together with a Great Crested Grebe and several migrant Chiffchaffs in nearby scrub.
On Sunday, (15/03) before going back home, we drove to Poole Quay and got the boat out to Brownsea Island. Such a cool place; must be well nice on a sunny day. There was though a right old chill in the air, with lots of cloud. A walk around the island revealed cracking views of at least 6 of the resident population of Red Squirrels. So much better than our invasive Greys! Thankfully Brownsea is a Grey-free zone! Long may that continue.
Birds around the island included several very vocal Ravens cronking away almost constantly, several Dark-Bellied Brent Geese, a small group of Red Breasted Merganser, a female Stonechat, reasonable numbers of Siskins and a couple of Shag.
Most interest on the bird front though was on the lagoon at the western end of the island. Here, birds from the hides included a Spotted Redshank, 2 Greenshank, around 100 Black-Tailed Godwit, c.50 Avocet & 7 Pintail among other things.
After a bit of food at the cafe, we hopped on the 4pm boat and reluctantly headed for home.
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