A short visit to Portland Bird Observatory.(PBO)

This year, in what has now become an annual tradition, Carlton, Dawn, Elinor and Ben visited PBO, from the afternoon of the 20th until midday on the 23rd. and as usual stayed in the old lighthouse keeper’s cottage that’s attached to the lighthouse adjacent to part of the garden where some of the mistnets are situated. In fact one of the nets is close enough to the cottage that it can be checked from the sitting room window!

As one would expect, if you’re a ringer, the main attraction of staying at the observatory is being able to assist with the ringing. But there is also some good birding to be had close to the obs along the various nearby paths, most of which lead towards different parts of the coastline.  Another highlight  for those interested is being able examine what the many moth traps have produced and there are often rare, local coastal specialities and migrant species, many of which do not occur in mid Wales.

The main netting area is in the observatory garden that surrounds the main building and lighthouse. Here amongst the stunted trees and shrubs there are usually about 12-14 mistnets that are open all and every day, when the weather allows. As well as the garden nets  immediately across the road from the obs entrance  in what is known as the crown estate fields, now owned by PBO,  here there are a numerous nets set in and between  strips of specially planted crops such as maize, sunflowers and the like,. But being more exposed these nets often need to be closed more frequently than those in the garden.  There is also an additional site in an over grown quarry a few hundred metres along the road from the obs, these nets were usually just opened in the morning with someone staying on site all the time.

During this visit there were not many ringers staying at the “obs” so during their stay Elinor and Carlton were responsible for checking most of nets in the garden and process any birds they caught, plus some of the birds that were brought across from the CE Fields.

As would be expected due to its coastal location and it unusual aspect  the number and variety of birds ringed at Portland varies greatly and the arrival of different, and sometimes common species on different days is very noticeable. It’s interesting to note that the species that are in and around the garden first thing in the morning may be replaced by different species that make their way across the “island” southwards and turn up around the obs later in the day.

This was a good outing for Elinor as it was her first opportunity to do any ringing since the end of the winter, with new birds for here being Linnet, Fieldfare and Firecrest. She also impressed Martin (the warden), when she correctly identified one of the many “Chiffchaffs” as an unusually late Willow Warbler.

Other highlights were a single Bearded Tit first seen on the 21st and trapped in the CEF on the 22nd  and a retrapped Wryneck that was originally ringed on the 9th.  Also during the visit a there was noticeable increasing influx of Black Redstarts  with a group of nine being seen together from the obs terrace on the 23rd, the same day that the first Bramblings of the autumn arrived.

Note – the totals below are only for the obs garden and Crown Estate Field and does not include Culverwell Quarry. No lures were used in the OBS or CEF.