I received an email on the 4th with the disturbing news that my rival lister, Graham, enjoyed his birding in Sydney (his first trip of the year) rather more than I’d hoped: whilst I’d been shivering in the northern winter in Japan he had been sauntering around that most beautiful of cities notching up a rather irritating 30 species lead! Such things can not be ignored, and with the weather in the UK today set to be unusual - ie NOT raining - I decided I ought to get some serious birding done and headed down to Weymouth and Portland (W&P) on the Dorset coast some eighty miles away.

For a year-lister looking for winter birds (specifically one who lives in Wiltshire and only has one day left before flying to Miami for some more birding), W&P is a very special area. Within a ten-mile radius is the RSPB Reserve of Radipole (essentially a remnant marsh in the seaside town of Weymouth, with Water Rail, Cetti’s Warbler, and Bearded Tit usually found right by the small car-park), Ferrybridge (a tidal-mud-flat holding wintering Dark-bellied Brent, and shorebirds like Dunlin, and Ringed Plover), Portland Harbour (a deep-water harbour full of Red-breasted Merganser and divers/loons), and Portland Island itself (home to the Portland Bird Observatory with its daily-updated website; numerous quarries where Little Owls live; arable/rough fields with - this year anyway - wintering Siberian Chiffchaff, Dartford Warbler, Reed Bunting, and Short-eared Owl; a rocky shoreline home to localised species like Kittiwake, Razorbill, Rock Pipit and winteringPurple Sandpiper; and miles and miles of English Channel which is scanned every morning by some of the keenest eyes in Portland Bird Observatory, where they pick out Northern Gannets, Common and Velvet/White-winged Scoters, and far more besides (they even picked up a Pomarine Skua - very unusual in January - harrassing the local Herring Gulls and a 2nd year Iceland Gull this morning and managed to show both of them to me - how’s that eh?).

Of course the other reason I wanted to go to Portland was to see - as the name of this Big Year implies - some old friends (who I’d last seen either a year ago, or at Peter’s funeral in October). This was the first time I’d been down to PBO since Peter died, and the first time I’d been there in many years without either travelling down with him or meeting up with him down here. It was strange not having his cynical/sarcastic voice booming out of his favoured chair - being Secretary for so long he had “chair privileges” not granted to ordinary visitors - or to see him squinting over the illegible collection of squiggles and crossing-outs that passed for book-keeping in the observatory bookshop (which he set up singlehandedly and managed on his own for the first three years of its five-year life). The Portland regulars have of course moved on with their concerns and lives: Peter’s missed, but his presence has been pushed into the background already. It’s understandable but it didn’t feel right, and it didn’t feel right wandering over the fields and not having him to chastise for not keeping up, or not having him point out some aspect of the island’s natural history I would have invariably walked past if he hadn’t made me look a little harder. I’ve been going down to PBO since 1983 and I’ll keep on going because I like the people down there, the scenery and the fresh air makes me feel alive, and the birds are wonderful - but it’s different: I don’t have my best friend to share the place with anymore, and that’s left a hole I’m not sure I’ll ever fill…

2nd Winter Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides, English Channel.
A bonus, this is a species I never see abroad and don’t see annually in the UK

There may be better similar-sized areas in eg Costa Rica, but for January 6th in the UK this is about as good as it gets (IMHO anyway). Oh, and I saw everyone of the birds I mentioned above (actually I only heard the Bearded Tits but that’s only because it was still dark when I arrived and they were bouncing around over the reeds just minutes later - I’ve seen them every other time I’ve been)…

Taking photos of everything today wasn’t all that easy. I’m not complaining (of course not) but the tide was way-out at Ferrybridge, rendering the geese into small dark specks, and on Portland whilst it wasn’t raining, it wasn’t actually all that sunny either (and most days there’s a bit of a gale blowing in off the sea, plus a pile of birders wandering around which the wind-battered, cold birds spend hours trying to avoid). Some of the few I did take are posted below, and when I get the chance I’ll work out what the full day-list and update the year-list.

Radipole RSPB Reserve, Weymouth

 

2nd Winter Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus, Radipole car-park.
Once very scarce in the UK, 39 were counted on this very car-park last week, while another 181 were seen at Ferrybridge the same day!

 

Pulpit Rock, Portland Bill: the southern tip of Dorset

 

Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima, Portland Bill.
A small flock (usually between 8 and 12) regularly winter here with Ruddy Turnstones.

 

Rock Pipit Anthus petrosus, Portland Bill.
An exclusively coastal species here, Portland is an excellent place to see Rock Pipits (note the strong eye-ring and dark lores)

 

Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus, Portland Bill.
With the purchase of several fields and their sensitive management, PBO has hopefully guaranteed a safe haven for these beautiful winter visitors.

Day List:
Dark-bellied Brent Goose Branta bernicla c)40; Mute Swan Cygnus olor 3; Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna 2; Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 40+; Common Teal Anas crecca crecca 10; Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula 10; Velvet/White-winged Scoter Melanitta fusca 5; Common/Black Scoter Melanitta nigra c)40; Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator 40+; Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata 2; Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 2; Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 2; Little Egret Egretta garzetta 1; Northern Gannet Sula bassana 30+; Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 20+; European Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis 30+; Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus 1; Water Rail Rallus aquaticus 2; Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 5-6; Common Coot Fulica atra 10+; Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula 30+; Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata 1; Dunlin Calidris alpina 30+; Common Gull Larus canus 20+; Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 10+; Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides 1; Herring Gull Larus argentatus ++; Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus ++; Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus 2; Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 60+; Pomarine Skua Stercorarius pomarinus 1; Razorbill Alca torda 100+; Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus +; Little Owl Athene noctua 1; Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus 1; Black-billed Magpie Pica pica 5-6; Eurasian Jackdaw Corvus monedula 40+; Great Tit Parus major 2; Sky Lark Alauda arvensis c)10; Cetti’s Warbler Cettia cetti 1; Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata 3; Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita collybita 1; Siberian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita tristis 1; Bearded Tit Panurus biarmicus H*; Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris +; Blackbird Turdus merula c)10; Song Thrush Turdus philomelos 2; Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros 1; House Sparrow Passer domesticus 10+; Dunnock Prunella modularis 2-3; White/Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba yarellii c)10; Rock Pipit Anthus petrosus 5-6; Eurasian Linnet Carduelis cannabina 7-8; Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula 1; Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus 7-8

New for the Year: 32
Life Birds; 0
Total for the Year: 119

Incidentally, while visitors to 10,000 Birds appear to be in the mood for a quiz, I posted this question at about the same time that the site went down (which I think was why no-one commented?), so I’m going to post it again:

• What do you think this sound recording is of? Click here.

No prizes for getting it right, but I’ll tell you now on my first visit to Narita (many years ago) when I heard this I had no idea what it was…I’ll post the answer in a day or two.