An afternoon out with Tristan, and as I arrived on the Isle of Portland I should have guessed it was not going to be a successful afternoon as the final whistle went at White Hart Lane and Spurs suffered an agonising defeat to Chelski!
Once on Portland I drove to Weston and parked before taking a walk to the famous Avalanche Road "hump". There were a few birders about so I thought my chances of seeing the Subalpine Warbler would be quite good...but alas despite lots of searching I drew a blank (and by all accounts so did everyone else!). A Reed Warbler was a real surprise, and a couple of Chiffchaffs were also seen. A Kestrel surveyed the site from above!
On then to the Bill and after parking at the Bird Observatory I walked up to Culverwell to look for an extremely elusive Barred Warbler...and it was indeed elusive and failed to show. So two decent warblers dipped in less than an hour. Still, I was hopeful for Firecrest as "several" had been around. Despite working hard around the "Obs Garden" I could only locate Goldcrests and must have seen a dozen at least. A large flock of Linnets flew overhead as did a few Meadow Pipits and then some reward for the efforts put in today as a small flock of Skylarks flew over and in with them a single Woodlark! So a year tick at last, though not one I was expecting. A Raven also flew over croaking.
It was now 4.30pm, so I headed back home to make sure Tristan was back in time for his tea. Nice to get out on a lovely warm autumn day, but a poor return with regard to birds.
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