Lodmoor RSPB and Portland Bill - Wed 8 Sep

With term back in full swing I get to have Wednesday afternoons off as compensation for working on a Saturday morning, so I took advantage of the good weather and headed down to the coast, arriving at Lodmoor RSPB at about 2.15pm.
I walked around the reserve in the hope of picking up a few migrant passerines as well as a few waders, however, there was not a huge variety of birds on show. I did manage to pick up nine species of wader, with the pick being two Ruff, a Spotted Redshank and a couple of Curlew Sandpipers. The only other birds of note were six Wheatears and a single Chiffchaff.
Leaving Lodmoor I drove on down to Portland and parked at the Bird Observatory. I did not spend a huge amount of time at the Bill as I was really after just one bird, and as I set up my scope at the Obs Quarry I did not have long to wait as the Wryneck I had hoped to see hopped in to view. I did manage to take a few record shots using my mobile phone held against my scope, and they are possibly the worst shots of a Wryneck ever taken, but at least you can see what it is!


There were plenty of other birds flitting around in the quarry, but nothing really out of the ordinary, with a single Whitethroat present and a couple of Stonechats seen. With time ticking on, and knowing I had to get home to cook dinner for Ellie, I headed off at 4.30pm and still managed to get stuck in traffic through Weymouth for nearly an hour!
UK list for 2010 now at 206 species.