The Bill

As a bit of a change from the New Forest scenery, the three brothers trekked down the coast to spend a day birding and wildlifing at Portland Bill.

We were up pre-breakfast for a spot of seawatching and were rewarded with plenty of Manx Shearwaters and Gannets dashing back and forth. There's also a small seabird colony on the West Cliffs of the Bill and we had soon picked out breeding Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars, Kittiwakes and Shags.

After a big fry up, it was back out to the cliffs for more seabirds, including a Puffin on the water, and 30 Common Scoter past before Mark picked up the highlight of the day - a Spoonbill bombing out to sea right over our heads. A huge brucey bonus if ever there was one.

Other than that things were a bit quiet on the migrant front and after a few hours bashing the bill, we headed to Weymouth's RSPB reserves of Radipole Lake and Lodmoor. Straight away at Radipole, some lovely views of Cetti's and Reed Warblers and also a Great Grebe trying to neck a huge Rudd. The reserves provided some interesting urban birding but not too many other birds to write home about.

More Pics will follow.