I’m just back from the annual Glamorgan Bird Club 3-day trip to the Portland Bird Observatory, one of the highlights of my birding year so, be warned, the next few days’ blog posts will be a bit birdy!

En route to Portland last Friday, we stopped for a short time in the car park at Maiden Castle hill fort, near Dorchester. You may well think that an odd place to go birding but we are almost certain to spot Corn buntings there, birds we never see in my part of Wales. And we were certainly not disappointed – in fact, we saw more Corn buntings this year than I’ve ever seen before, and many were enjoying a fun splash in the puddles along the dirt road leading in to the site. A delight to watch!