First Birding Trip of 2014!

 Date spotted: 2nd Jan 2014

Location: Weymouth - Portland Bill

Observation: A very successful first trip of the year down to Weymouth. First we visited Radipole to find the Glossy Ibis, driving along the road we spotted it so jumped out van, and took some shots, lets you get within 30 foot before flying a little further away. The Glossy was in the park to start with but kids in the park scared it so landed by goal posts. Word of warning very wet so wear wellys! We moved onto the harbour, lots of birders but distant birds so moved on quickly to Portland Bill and had a walk from Southwell to the lighthouse and back. Very windy so not alot of birds along the west side of the island. A few birds down at the lighthouse including a Raven and Pied Wagtail. Along by the huts we found a female Black Redstart sheltering from the wind so got some nice shots of her. As we walked back onto the footpath we seen a Kestrel flying towards us (weird) it started hovering right in front of us. We watched it for a little, it then went down towards the Redstart! We walked slowly round to see it, it was sat on the edge of the cliff about 5 foot from us!! We moved around a bit more, he didn't even move, think he may have seen the Redstart, but flew off unsuccessful! So a very successful day for us !

Weather: Blue Sky, Sleet, Warm

Other Species: Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Raven, Crow, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Kestrel, Buzzard, Glossy Ibis, Black Redstart, Meadow Pipit, Starling, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Purple Sandpiper, Goosander, Black-Headed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Common Gull, Shag, Cormorant, Linnet, Grey Heron, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Rock Pipit