I had to go to Portland today, needed to dump some garden waste at the tip and visit a shop, so picked up my bags and headed to the tip, I decided to take a quick visit to the top fields and farm again, the weather was a little overcast, rain was forecast so I knew I didn't have long. so plenty of Wheatears again, there seems to have been a big influx overnight and morning, I wanted to walk through the fields, a Ring Ouzel was supposed to be in an adjacent field, all the twitchers were there with their telescopes, not being one to involve myself with twitchers I decided to take the long walk around and see what I could see, Wheatears everywhere in every field, no chance of getting close, walked past another ignorant Twitcher and found my now regular Kestrel had just found his breakfast, saw a few Redstarts about but no chance there, I sat at the end of the field where the Ouzel was meant to be but no sign, I decided to head off back, thinking I may as well stop at Reap lane on the way to the Shop, I found a new path back to the car, Mmmm! well worth another visit :-)
It started to rain as I got out of my car, but just put the camera under my coat and walked on, not a lot showing here though, a few Wheatears again, I did bump into local birder and expert Brett Spencer, he was going down the road a bit further to look at Suckthumb Quarry, so I tagged along, he was amazing picking out stuff, I can tell quite a bit from calls, but Brett has radar ears, before long we had seen tons of Willow Warblers, Blackcaps, Whitethroats, and a brief Garden Warbler, never got a shot of it to much in the way, it started to rain again, but we carried on, we walked around the corner saw some more Redstarts total of 7 there, then all of a sudden he said there was a Grasshopper Warbler calling, I couldn't hear it at first, soon latched on but couldn't see it grrr, we headed off down through a cut to a little Copse then surprise surprise not one but a pair of Pied Flycatchers, 3 in a week :-) we turned back up towards the Hump and this time I did hear it, another Grasshopper calling, we must have been only a few feet from it and could not see it, how frustrating, we checked out the Hump then Brett left for the Bill, I decided to go back up and try and find Gropper, no luck there, I did get some pics of the Redstarts a pair and did get another view of the Pied Flys before leaving.
I arrived home and downloaded my pics, they are not perfect, but being the light was terrible I had to be pleased, next task was to sort out my booking for our holiday, bloody hell what a wind up this is, I thought Robbing Air were bad, but Easy Jet is the wrong name, I spent 3 hrs trying to check in, kept getting sent back to the first page or another place I had already been, boy I was getting seriously P.....d Off, I eventually phoned "Bombay " it is difficult talking to someone when you are already grumpy,but then have someone who cannot understand you either makes it highly entertaining, thankfully they sorted it out, I got checked in, I tried again for another 1/2 hr to download my boarding card, only to eventually find out the site was down and I will have to pick up my tickets at the airport Grrrr again, I still have to book my return flight with Thompson lets see how they do.
After dinner I popped out, had a quick walk at Lodmoor, not a lot on show,got a Heron in close so had to take a shot, then saw a Common Sandpiper opposite the shelter, went back to the car via the tip, the light was going fast, so I went down to Radipole Park Drive, I wanted to get a Marsh Harrier in the Low Sunset, I got some shots that are certainly different, one Silhouette and one above the Sedge, happy days, more rain forecast tomorrow so I guess that is it for another week.
Happy Days