Portland Bill, Dorset, 1/4/2012

Weather, sunshine and blue sky all day, cool breeze.

M.S. Kevin and I arrived at Portland Bill around 07.30 hours,
around car park by the lighthouses and on a cliff walk

Northern Wheatears, 20 +
Stonechat, several pairs
Skylark
Raven, 3 flew over together
Meadow Pipit
Sparrowhawk
Linnet

 Skylark

 Raven

Moved on to check out the Suckthumb Quarry area,

1 distant, brief sighting of a Ring Ouzel
Swallow, 1

Next place to look was for Barleycrates Lane, two birders had told us that 2 Ring Ouzels were showing well in the horse paddocks.

We could not even find Barleycrates Lane ! never mind find a Ring Ouzel !

Midday, we moved away from Portland Bill, a couple of miles along the Chesil Beach to Wyke Regis.

Here we was hoping to see two birds that have been well noted over the past few weeks.
Richard's Pipit and a Hume's Leaf Warbler.
We spent a couple of hours in the most glorious sunshine and saw neither !

Red-breasted Merganser, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, on the fleet lagoon
Returning to Portland Bill,
Another check out of Suckthumb Quarry, 2 Common Buzzards thermalled over, nothing else seen.

We then explored another area on the west side of the Bill, a Common Buzzard was hastled by the Gulls

                         Common Buzzard

not much seen, except now I met up with a local bird man who kindly told me where 'Barleycrates Lane' was !

'Barleycrates Lane', we found it !

3/4 Birders were there to tell us that 2 Ring Ouzels were in and around a hedgerow some 75 metres away over the other side of the horse paddocks. About 10 minutes conversation with the company, then, a Ring Ouzel burst into sight being chased by a Sparrowhawk, it was very close, the Ring Ouzel won and escaped, out of sight, not to be seen again.

Now late afternoon, we decided to return to Wyke Regis, again, no show of either Richard's Pipit or the Hume's.
Nothing new to add to the seen list, departed for home around 18.00 hours.

A superb day with so little photo opportunities !