Dorset Trip (part 2)

Wednesday 2nd June
Another early start, I was making a habit of it. Awake at 6 for another morning at Portland in much more favourable conditions. The local birders were already present when I arrived at 7, set up with there scopes on the patio. Unfortunately there was a slight heat haze over the sea meaning visibility was restricted to a couple of metres offshore. Very slow to start of with with just a 2 Manx Shearwaters east being the only notable sightings; however after about 40 minutes I picked out a dark bird flying east. I assumed it was another Manx until I noticed that it had dark undersides and very pointed wings, as well as being slightly larger, an Arctic Skua (year tick). The next hour passed very slowly with a flock of 38 Common Scoters east being the only sighting of note. After this attention turned to passerines as Martin the warden brought Chiffchaff and Reed Warbler to the patio so we could see them in the hand, beautiful birds made even better when seen in such fine detail.

A pair of Linnets and a singing Willow Warbler were also present in the garden but eluded capture. At 8:40 a birder came and informed us that a Spoonbill had been seen over Southwell. not an annual bird on Portland so caused quite a stir. I decided not to go and search for it as I had seen seen 1 the previous day; this turned out to be a wise choice as at 8:55 Martin shouted to us that he had the Spoonbill heading over the lighthouse at the bill. Good views were obtained through the scope before it flew fast out to see and was lost in the haze. We had to be back at the house by 10 so I decided to head off earlier so we could stop off at the car park at Ferrybridge to see if anything was on the fleet. A pair of Wimbrel and a Bar Tailed Godwit were feeding in the shallows as were a trio of Little Egrets. Looking out towards the centre of the water and the tern structure I quickly located a single Little Tern (year tick) resting on a nest and at least 2 others fishing close by, my 4th tern species of the trip. Since it was my turn to choose what we were doing that day I chose to head down to Arne RSPB near Poole Harbour to look for some heathland species. If you haven't already been to Arne it is well worth a visit as the habitat and scenery is spectacular, as well as having some brilliant wildlife. My parents went to look around Wareham so me and my brother took a look around the heathland section of the reserve. The area was alive with the calls of Meadow Pipits and a few Tree Pipits were performing their parachuting courtship flights. Stonechates were conspicuous with at least 5 males present but there was no sign of my main target species, Dartford Warbler. After doing the circuit of the heath we started to head back towards the car park but sidetracked by a small pond in a clearing in the woods (where Simon King was filming raft spiders for springwatch the next day). It was alive with Dragonflies with a stunning male Emperor guarding it's territory against all intruders, mainly Four Spotted Chasers.

As we were watching these a man pointed us towards an area of gorse where he had been watching a male Dartford Warbler for about 10 minutes. We headed over with him and he quickly shouted to us that it was still there but I couldn't manage to see it, although it was continually calling. It took over 5 minutes before I got brief views if this superb male Dartford Warbler (lifer 244). Unfortunately it remained elusive and at this time we had to go. However I would be coming back later to look for Nightjars.
Me and my Dad reached the reserve at 19:30 meaning we had 2 hours to search the reserve before the car park closed at 21:30. We headed up to the area of heath where I had been earlier on. We passed a patch of gorse near to the path where someone had told us was a good place to see Dartford Warbler when I noticed a movement amongst the vivid yellow of the flowers. Binoculars raised and yes a superb male Dartford Warbler singing it's heart out from the top of the gorse. Amazingly it was joined by a second, probably a female and they flew towards a small tree even closer than they were at first, giving stunning views. Unfortunately I could only get some record shots in the low light (above). We then headed round to a bench that gave good views over a large area of woodland and heath land where I hoped the Nightjars might appear. A pair of Stonechats showed well in the setting sun light as did a male Whinchat (year tick). At least 6 Sika Deers were feeding in the clearing below us, these were a first for me.

We waited in this area till 20:45 when the light started to go and my dad wanted to look round the rest of the heath heath before we had to leave. There wasn't much about until suddenly out of nowhere the most amazing and eerie sound cut through the twilight, the Nightjars had started. At least 4 males were calling from all around us filling the night air with their spell binding calls. 1 was calling from a small area of trees so I decided to keep watch and sure enough seconds later a Nightjar (lifer 245) flew out and circled round before diving back into the trees. Unfortunately it didn't repeat this and soon we had to leave and go home. However this brought my trip list up to 100 species.