It was a beautiful morning with a bit of a westerly blowing through, which meant keeping to the eastern side of The Bill for some shelter.
It appeared that the birds thought the same, with dozens of Rock Pipits along the grassy banks here and Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Cormorants sat out on the rocks just off the beach.
Top two highlights were my first Purple Sandpiper of the winter and a Black Redstart, both on the rocks directly behind the Portland Bird Observatory. The Purple Sandpiper was Here and the Black Redstart Here.
Out to sea it was fairly quiet and apart from a couple of Razorbills, the only birds of note were a few Kittiwakes and a juvenile Gannet which was feeding close inshore.
Here are a few images and a video from today:
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
A juvenile Gannet is on the lookout for a meal.
Head down and.........
......a quick turn and down......
....a very small splash. 9/10 good effort. Not sure if it caught a fish though!!
On the same rock 3 Oystercatchers....
...and Turnstones.
Out to sea a Razorbill passes by the Bill.
Plenty of Rock Pipits around today.
And this one was quite happy to bathe right in front of the Lobster Pot cafe Here.
One of two Ravens around the Observatory quarry.
A Rainbow over one of the old cranes
RFA Tidespring
Just making her way around the Bill. More on this tanker here.
A lone Purple Sandpiper on the rocks directly behind the Portland Bird Observatory
Birds Recorded were: 3 Gannet, 2 Shag, 1 Cormorant, 3 Oystercatchers, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 3 Turnstone, 12 Herring Gull, 5 Great Black-backed Gull, 6 Kittiwake, 2 Razorbill, Wood Pigeon, 11 Rock Pipit, Robin, 1 Black Redstart, Blackbird, 1 Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 2 Raven, Starling, House Sparrow and Chaffinch.