Portland Bill - Sun 2 Oct

A bit of birding with two old friends today (John and Steve) and we set off to Portland, arriving around 8.30am with cloudless skies overhead. It was pretty evident that there was some visible migration going on and the most abundant bird was Meadow Pipit, with literally hundreds seen over the course of the day. Whist at the Bill we noted several dozen Meadow Pipits fly out to sea heading south. There were also several Wheatear around the Bill, including a couple of the Greenland race...though this bird was of the nominate form.

Leaving the Bill we headed up to the Obs Quarry and within a couple of minutes Steve managed to locate the Wryneck that had been present for a few days. We were lucky enough to get some cracking views of the bird.

 

Wandering back to the car we noticed more Meadow Pipits and a few Skylarks passing over, plus a Peregrine trying its best to pick up a passerine snack and a couple of fly-over Raven. There was little out to sea apart from a distant Sandwich Tern, so we didn't;t linger for a sea watch and instead headed off for Radipole.