I've been doing the Heights Hotel Bird Breaks for a number of years now. Spurred on by an offer at Bird Fair of a free Sunday night room, I returned this weekend for my fifth visit. Having been previously in February, April, May & October, I thought I'd try an October visit this time. The weekend is led by local birder, Bob Ford (@bobthebirder) and we were a small group of six.
Friday
Heavy rain meant that I had to curtail my original plan of stopping off en route at RSPB Arne. As I approached Weymouth, the omens weren't great with driving rain and thick mist. Thankfully by the time I reached Portland, the rain had stopped even if the mist hadn't disappeared. By the time, I reached the Bill at around 2pm, that had gone too and I was able to fit in a couple of hours birding. The most visible birds were rock pipits, which were numerous. I stopped to watch some oystercatchers on the rocks, when a turnstone appeared followed by a pair of purple sandpipers trying to appear inconspicuous. A walk around the fields revealed a stonechat, a pair of kestrels then a very close, confiding raven who allowed some excellent views.
Saturday
The forecast for Saturday morning was heavy rain that was due to clear by lunchtime, so we made our way to RSPB Arne, where we could at least shelter in the woods and hides. The woods in the windy conditions were bird less, but from Shipstall Hide, there was a good selection of waders & ducks to be seen including no fewer than 14 spoonbills. Heading back to the car park for lunch, we watched the feeders whilst we ate and were rewarded by a male and two female bramblings. We headed out to Middlebere in the afternoon. It was too windy for dartford warbler, but there were lots of waders to be seen including avocets and a spotted redshank, which allowed close comparison with common redshank. Raptors were well represented with both buzzard and kestrel, but the undoubted highlight was a fine ringtail hen harrier that drifted across the reeds, my first since 2012.
Sunday
The day got off to a good start with a fly by peregrine falcon at breakfast.
We spent the day birding locally staring off with a short sea watch at the Bill. No skuas, but I added a couple of year ticks by way of razorbill & shag. We also had a flyover brambling and sparrowhawk. A walk through the beach huts rewarded us with views of a female black redstart and migrant chiffchaffs & blackcap, before we stopped in the Observatory, where warden Martin Wade was able to show us a redwing, which he had just caught in the ringing nets.
A walk around the Top Fields failed to give us the hoped for short eared owl, but there were a number of stone chats and our only reed bunting of the weekend. At the quarry next door to the Observatory we were delighted to see the little owl was in his usual spot. I made my first attempt at phone scoping.
The afternoon was spent at three different sites. At Ferrybridge, there were an impressive number of brent geese and red brested merganser was a year tick. Lodmoor RSPB added several common birds to our weekend list plus a female marsh harrier. We didn't get to Radipole RSPB until just before dusk, so spent our time at the visitor centre, where we just added common gull to the weekend list.
Monday
En route home, I decided to visit two new reserves in Hampshire. Blashford Lakes near Ringwood was my first stop This is an impressive little reserve. From the first hide, a peregrine falcon zipped past the hide window and two goldeneye were a welcome add to the weekend list. From the woodland hide, I also added treecreeper plus another year tick in lesser redpoll. With osprey & bittern recently seen there, this is certainly a reserve I shall return to.
My final stop was RSPB Farlington Marshes near Portsmouth, where it was blowing a gale, which didn't bear well for my hoped for target species. A local birder didn't give me much hope as headed disconsolately back to the car park, but I persevered around the sea wall, where eventually some movement on the marsh caught my eye. It was a couple of rabbits but as they headed along the bank of a stream, they surprised my target bird, a fine short eared owl, which gave some great close up views on the ground. It eventually flew a short distance, which put up all of the nearby brent geese, which was an impressive sight in itself - a fine end to a terrific weekend,
