The day before my recent emergency excursion to Portland to see a
Spectacled Warbler, I was on Portland shortly after dawn looking for commoner migrants - flycatchers, chats and warblers. Photographing a migrant male Pied Flycatcher well in Dorset has been a long-held ambition - and so it remains as I didn't see one on Sunday. But I did find a female in the Reap Lane area, alongside a couple of Spotted Flycatchers. Another Spotted Flycatcher was just around the corner at Avalanche Road, all entertaining and confiding birds to watch.
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Pied Flycatcher, Reap Lane |
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Pied Flycatcher, Reap Lane |
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Pied Flycatcher, Reap Lane |
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Pied Flycatcher, Reap Lane |
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Spotted Flycatcher, Avalanche Road Hump |
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Spotted Flycatcher, Avalanche Road Hump |
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Spotted Flycatcher, Reap Lane |
Before the flies, and therefore the flycatchers, had woken up, I had ambled up Barleycrates Lane where Whinchat was the early bird of the day - a couple of this attractive species were present. The Whinchats were matched for perkiness as the morning warmed up by a duo of male Redstarts which played their own version of
duelling banjos, singing at each other across a Portland paddock.
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Backlit Whinchat on Barleycrates Lane |
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Whinchat, Barleycrates Lane - from the exact spot I saw the Northern Harrier on 21 April 2014, in case I hadn't mentioned it previously... |
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Whinchat is always a delightful bird to see |
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Invariably sitting up to give good views |
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Male Redstart, Reap Lane |
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Male Redstart singing on Reap Lane |
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Willow Warblers were still passing through this weekend - this one at Reap Lane |
It shouldn't be a surprise that a series of early morning visits to Portland in recent weeks have proven so rewarding for migrant birds, but what was a surprise was the apparent lack of birders I encountered around the middle of the island. I'm not complaining, or indeed criticising - I display borderline criminal neglect towards my own patch at Swineham, after all - but let's face it, there is a bit more incentive to get out on a spring morning if you live on Portland!
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Whinchats on Barleycrates Lane |