Bookending a holiday by bike

The last few days of September and first week of October were earmarked for a trip to Shetland (more on that in a later post) so after the St Aldhelm's Red-backed Shrike, I had just one weekend left to add to the non-motorised year list before heading north. The most realistic prospect for doing so was a Glossy Ibis which had been seen coming in to roost at Hengistbury Head at the eastern tip of Dorset several evenings in a row as the weekend approached. This would mean hanging around until dusk and cycling home in the dark, but it seemed a price worth paying to add a tricky species to the yearlist.

Glossy Ibis, Hengistbury Head, 16th September

It would take me a couple of hours to get there but there was no point leaving too early as I would be sitting around waiting for dark, so I resolved to arrive in the late afternoon. I had two options for watching the Ibis come in to roost recommended by local birders Olly Frampton and Chris Chapleo: head to Stanpit and look south to Hengistbury, or go straight to the Head and look north for it arriving over Stanpit. The former was a bit further and would involve more dicing with traffic, so as I would have time to kill and fancied a seawatch I decided on the latter. 

Golden Plover, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin, Lodmoor, 9th October

The sea-watching was slow to say the least and I confess to being distracted by the lure of the bar and cafe on Mudeford Spit. A fishcake and a pint later and it was starting to get dark so I headed for the spot recommended by Chris, who advised that the Ibis was coming in around 1930. 1930 came and went and although there had been a steady stream of Egrets, I had seen no Ibis. 

Golden Plover (with Dunlin), Lodmoor, 9th October

The visibility was getting pretty poor by this point and I started to doubt that I would see the Ibis, but at 1932 a dark shape appeared to my left, vanished behind some trees but then banked above the trees to reveal the unmistakable silhouette of a Glossy Ibis. Delighted with the sighting, the journey home was a breeze and completed in good time.

Clouded Yellow, Portland Harbour, 9th October

I was due to return from Shetland on Sunday 8th October and had booked Monday 9th off work to provide some contingency in case the ferry was delayed. While all went smoothly in the end, I decided to take the day off anyway and have a workout on the bike. For each of my last 3 Shetland trips I have missed Grey Phalarope back at home, and sure enough one had spent the few days before I got home entertaining photographers in the car park at Ferrybridge. The forecast was pretty good so I headed straight there, only to find the Phalarope's favoured pools completely empty.

Grey Phalarope, Chesil Beach, 9th October

I remembered that before settling on the pools the Phalarope had first been seen off Chesil Beach so it made sense to check there next. I pushed the bike up the whaleback of shingle which forms Chesil Beach and started to scan with the binoculars. A tiny dot in a patch of seaweed way to the south had to be the Phalarope but I assembled the telescope just to check and sure enough it was. 

Grey Phalarope, Chesil Beach, 9th October

Flushed with success, after putting the news out in case anyone else was looking for the bird I thought a few photos would be nice and started to press on to what I estimated would be about 600 yards to the bird. Big mistake: the sun chose that moment to come out and that 600 yards pushing the bike through the shingle took more out of me than the 22 miles of cycling to get there!

Grey Phalarope, Chesil Beach, 9th October

When I did the Phalarope was close enough for a few record shots as it worked its way through each patch of seaweed before making a short flight to the next patch to the south. I continued to follow it but less than an hour after I first located it, the bird took up, headed strongly west and was lost to view, never to be seen again. I felt fortunate to have seen it before it left. The journey home was tough as I was a bit out of shape from all the fine-dining on Shetland, but when complete I had the satisfaction of adding Grey Phalarope to the non-motorised year list - species number 207 for 2023. 

Grey Phalarope, Chesil Beach, 9th October