It's that time of year again

It's that time of year again: the Dorset Youth League Football Season is underway. Eldest son George is now Wareham Rangers' under-14s utility right-back/midfield/whatever-the-team-commands-guy, on account of us having no subs due to transfer window defections and drop-outs. Another change this season has been the move to a far more parent-friendly regime of weeknight training, freeing up Saturday mornings, and earlier kick-offs on match days, freeing up Sunday afternoons. The start of the football season coincides, of course, with the autumn bird migration season, so I have been enjoying these new-found weekend freedoms by checking out some favourite hotspots around Dorset. Some highlights from a joyous middle-age reclaimed below:

Wryneck at Portland Bill

Wryneck appears regularly on Portland at this time of year

This one was in the Bill Quarry

A half-decent flight shot

Rose-coloured Starling is another regular autumn migrant on Portland

This one took a shine to a rooftop solar panel, alternating between lying down under it and loafing alongside it

It had hooked up with local Starlings on a housing estate near Weston

Middlebere is another good location for migrants at this time of year: Green Sandpipers have been on the pools in front of the hide

An attractive wader

Migrant Ospreys have also been showing some interest in the false nest platforms erected for them

The hope is they can be persuaded to stay and breed one day. Well, unlike Wareham Rangers, who have yet to win a game this season, we can dream, can't we?

I have had the pleasure of the company of Wareham Rangers right-back on several post-match jaunts - here he is practising one of the essential skills of digital photography: chimping