Portland Bill and Ferrybridge- 24th March

With news of a bluethroat at Portland Bill, we rushed down there this morning- only to be greeted by sub zero temperatures and strong winds at the Bill!

With no immediate sign of the bluethroat, we had a walk around the rest of the Bill as we waited for the weather to improve. I got my first summer migrant of the year in the form of a very miserable-looking wheatear, and that was promptly followed by dozens more wheatears (we finished our walk around the Bill having seen about 120 of them!). There was also a black redstart, and we soon found three more of them. An early common tern was a good bird to see past the Bill, along with three Sandwich terns and several pipits a long way out to see. We then walked up to Reap Lane- a notoriously good spot for migrant species. I immediately found a male ring ouzel in my scope- a bit of a Portland speciality and a lifer for me that has been a long time coming! We watched it for ten or so minutes (and I managed the appalling record shot below!)

As we headed home, we stopped off at Ferrybridge. Portland has a habit of springing surprises, and it did so again, as we were shown a Kentish plover, my second lifer of the day. It's name is rather inappropriate considering that its status in Britain is that of a scarce passage migrant. Ferrybridge is one of the best sites in the country for this species, but it is barely annual there. In Portland Harbour, there were 5 Slavonian grebes and 3 sandwich terns among the more common species.

A very poor record shot of the Kentish plover (it's the one on the right by the way!)A great morning, that was worsened when we discovered that we had missed the bluethroat by 20 minutes!