15-16th November

On the 15th, I was lucky enough to find a distant Greenland Greater White-fronted Goose from the coast path behind Abbotsbury Swannery in with a flock of Canada Geese, along with a singe Scaup in among a large flock of Pochards, Tufted Ducks and Mallards. This was my second sighting of both species and made for a nice bonus on a great walk.

Greenland Greater White-fronted Goose, Abbotsbury. What an amazing thought it is that this bird has travelled to Dorset all the way from the High Arctic.

The next day, we got up early and travelled to Portland, in search of a rare Siberian vagrant. After a short wait, the Dusky Warbler appeared in a small bramble patch off Avalanche Road. We had great views, but the bird was extremely mobile and far too fast for the camera. This species breeds from central Siberia eastwards and should be well on its way to Thailand right now, however this individual has become rather lost to say the least. I suspected that the bird may appear similar to a darker, browner Chiffchaff, though I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this bird was much more distinctive than expected. Its behaviour was very similar to that of the Pallas's Warbler that I saw several weekends ago, moving frantically about the brambles, occasionally pausing to do some fly-catching. It was a really great bird to watch and a very pleasing new species for me. In the same brambled area, there were two Chiffchaffs and several Redwing flocks flew overhead.

We then moved on to Portland Castle, hoping for some Divers to be showing well offshore. Sadly our search was in vain (except for a group of c.14 Red-breasted Mergansers), though finding eight Black Redstarts behind the castle more than made up for it.

Black Redstart, Portland Castle

This is one of my favourite bird species, really invoking memories of the south of France and Morocco and they appeared well and truly out of place hopping around the dingy wasteland behind the castle on this cold and rainy November day. I have never seen such a large number together in the UK and watching them made for a really enjoyable experience. Nearby were approximately 12 Chiffchaffs and several more Redwings, as well as my latest-ever Wheatear, beating the bird I saw at Portland Bill 16 days ago. Soon, the rain became unbearably heavy and we had to head home, very pleased with the morning.