Slim Pickings, But...

At this point in the season, a birder here in my West Dorset/East Devon locale might reasonably expect to have encountered at least a few of the following so-called common migrants: Whinchat, Grasshopper Warbler, Garden Warbler, Yellow Wagtail, Redstart, White Wagtail, Swift, and maybe Cuckoo. Less likely are Pied Flycatcher and Ring Ouzel - I might have seen more Hoopoes locally than springtime individuals of either - though I guess they ought probably to be on that list. In which case I suppose Hoopoe should as well! So there we are, 13 species, of which several should have fallen by April 27th.

Yet I have seen just one of them. And bizarrely it is Ring Ouzel. Twice.

The first time was last Tuesday. On afternoon visits to Cogden I like to work the hedges inland of the coast path. I realise that by this time of day many migrants will likely have moved on through, but there are sometimes a few stragglers to be found here. In the few years that I've been birding Cogden, a number of spots have been noticeably consistent producers, and it was from one of these that a silvery-winged thrush burst forth and flew about fifty yards away from me before diving into a hedge. I knew it was a Ring Ouzel, but views were so fleeting and poor that I couldn't even sex it. Ten minutes later it still hadn't emerged, and that was that.

Amazingly, the same thing happened this afternoon, roughly 400m west of Tuesday's occurrence. Again, rear views of a silvery-winged thrush piling into a hedge, though this time I could see it was brown. However, ten minutes later it did the decent thing and flew straight across the field, giving excellent side-on views, and perched up in the far hedge about 80m away, facing me. By the time I had the camera ready a few seconds later it had dropped out of sight, or so I thought. But maybe...maybe...could that be it?

I have seen some great Ring Ouzel photos on Bluesky lately, lovely portraits of this striking migrant. This photo is not like those ones...

Full frame at 2000mm zoom. Spot the Ring Ouzel.

Anyway, the bird was brown, with a dull, off-white bib, so presumably a female. Although four days have elapsed since my first Ouzel encounter, the species is scarce enough here that I cannot help wondering if it is the same bird. In view of the season's conjugal urges it seems unlikely, but quite a coincidence if not.

Just for clarity...

Facing right, but looking at the camera. Silvery wing edgings, scaly underparts, off-white bib and dull yellowish bill, all visible. Just.

By quite a big margin, these two encounters are way ahead of the rest of my own spring birding results. Dribs and drabs would be a generous description of things so far. To be fair, I haven't been out much, but the local WhatsApp chatter - or rather, lack of - tells me I'm not missing a lot. An hour at West Bay shortly after sunrise this morning gave me one Whimbrel, one Common Sandpiper, four Brents, and three single Wheatears which materialised out of thin air on various bits of rock armour...

Female Wheatear views the shore ahead and thanks its genetic programming for omitting West Bay from the list of potential breeding spots.

A few more recent pics...

Yellowhammer this afternoon, uttering its single-note call. With reference to the previous post, without using a 'burst' setting on the camera it is highly unlikely I would have caught it with its bill open, as intended.

Willow Warbler. At least there have been a few of these.

Thank goodness for Wheatears.

My first Whimbrel of 2024, one of five on 21st April.

A proper fat soldier of a Wheatear.

Another one...

...and one more.

The first passage Pom Skua passed Portland this morning. Lovely. Yes, it might have been a bit slow to get going this year but I'm sure there are plenty of springtime thrills to come...