Tristan and I braved the weather this afternoon and headed south to the coast and paid a visit to Wyke Regis, a site which has produced some real quality birds this year. Today ended up being no exception, though I thought our luck was going to be out due to the incessant wind and steady drizzle.
Upon arrival we were lucky enough to have a slight break in the rain and so after parking up took a walk towards the Bridging Camp, scanning the paddocks in the hope of locating the 1st-summer Woodchat Shrike that had been present all week. There was no sign but I did see a male Stonechat and the slightly scarcer Whinchat. A couple of Wheatears were hunkered down in one of the fields in an attempt to avoid the worst of the weather.
Time was against us as the traffic around Dorchester and Weymouth was dire so we had arrived later than planned, so we had to return to the car. On the way back I noticed the "Bull, No Entry" sign that had been mentioned on the pager, so stopped and had another look about. Fortunately, Tristan was pretty happy in his backpack, so when a saw a smallish black and white bird dart out of a bramble bush and then back again I was able to set up my 'scope feeling confident that I'd found what I was looking for. Sure enough over the next five minutes I was treated to several feeding sorties as the Woodchat Shrike searched for food. The only down side was that when it returned to its favourite bush it was out of site, so no chance for me to get one of my quality record shots! As we returned to the car a Common Tern flew overhead.
So despite the weather and traffic we had a great afternoon out.
UK list for 2012 now at 211 species.
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