The day of the Wheatears

28 Saturday Mar 2026

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birding, birding on the Isle of Portland, birdwatching, British birds, Portland birding, spring migration, Wheatear, Wheatear migration

I spotted my first Wheatear of the year last Tuesday, 17 March, sitting at a distance on the edge of the rocky slope of Chesil Beach at Ferrybridge but it was Friday, the 20th, that turned out to be ‘the day of the Wheatears’!

My long day of wandering around parts of the Isle of Portland began in that same location at Ferrybridge, where I found three stunning male Wheatears dotting about, feeding up on tiny insects after their long migration flight.

From there I walked along the coast path to Portland Castle, where there were three more Wheatears. These birds had been scared off the beach rocks by passing pedestrians and cyclists, and were moving around the grassy areas at the heliport opposite the beach.

Next, I caught the bus to Reap Lane, for a wander along Portland’s west cliffs coast path, around the adjacent horse fields and the Bill area surrounding the iconic lighthouse. Just one of those horse fields held five more Wheatears, males and the first female I’d seen.

And, a little later, as I sat on a rock at the Bill, eating my flapjack and apple, I was wonderfully entertained by another Wheatear hopping about the area right in front of me.

What a superb day it was! I thought my 12 Wheatear sightings were impressive – and that was my highest ever daily total but the daily blog for 20 March by Martin Cade at Portland Bird Observatory reported:

There was lots of enjoyment to be had from today’s migration happenings, with the continuing settled weather seeing plenty of birds arriving on all fronts across the island. On the ground, Wheatears were conspicuously abundant, with a likely very conservative minimum of 100 recorded around the Bill where multiple waves of birds raced through throughout the morning.

Cetti’s warblers

27 Friday Mar 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cetti's warbler, Cettia cetti, Lodmoor Nature Reserve, RSPB Lodmoor

To label this bird a warbler is something of a misnomer, I think, as, really, they shout, loudly and raucously at this time of year, ‘Hey, girl! Look at me, look at me, look at me!’.

Meet the Cetti’s warbler (pronounced ‘chetty’ ) (Cettia cetti), named after the 18th-century Italian ornithologist Francesco Cetti, who first described it. It’s a bird that can usually be found near water, in the shrubs and reed beds that surround swamps and lakes or line the edges of rivers and streams.

Most of the year, the Cetti’s warbler is more of a skulker, producing its call from within dense vegetation, but, in the springtime, motivated by the need to find a mate, the males are much more visible.

They usually hold a small territory and, within that area, have favourite singing podiums/perches where they sit and call. And I find they follow the same route as they move around their patch so, if you spend a little time watching and listening, you can often catch them at one of their perches, as I managed to do with these two at RSPB Lodmoor last week.

Black-tailed godwits fighting

25 Wednesday Mar 2026

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birding, birdwatching, Black-tailed godwit, Black-tailed godwits fighting, British birds, Limosa limosa, Lodmoor Nature Reserve, RSPB Lodmoor

The vibrant russet-coloured summer plumage of the Black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) is simply stunning, so it was a real treat to see several of these handsome birds in their breeding regalia on three separate days last week at RSPB Lodmoor. The first time I spotted them, they were quite distant but, on the second occasion, last Thursday 19 March, the godwits were feeding much closer to the path, and I managed to get some reasonable photos.

You’ll notice that not all the birds have moulted in to summer plumage; those that haven’t may be juvenile birds or perhaps non-breeding adults. During my visit to Lodmoor last Saturday, the 21st, I was enjoying watching one of those birds busily probing for food very near me when another Black-tailed godwit flew in.

Immediately, the peace was shattered. For some unknown reason, this interloper was spoiling for a fight, and it attacked the other bird. The situation turned dramatic very quickly. Beaks and claws were used as weapons, wings flapped violently; they really looked like they might hurt each other.

Though it seemed much longer, after no more than a minute had passed, the interloper flew off and the first bird started feeding again. But then, back came the second bird, clearly in the mood for a scrap. I should’ve switched to video but was so caught up in watching them that I didn’t think to do that, so I’ve made a short slideshow of the photos I took that weren’t a complete blur. You’ll be pleased to know that the interloper once again flew off after just a minute or two, and neither bird appeared to be hurt.

Singing from every tree top

24 Tuesday Mar 2026

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Greenfinch, Lodmoor Nature Reserve, RSPB Lodmoor

The first thing I noticed, the first birds I heard as I approached RSPB Lodmoor on the first visit (last Monday afternoon, 16 March) of my most recent visit to Weymouth was the male Greenfinches that seemed to be singing from every tree top and tall shrub.

Singing Greenfinches may not sound too exciting to many of you but these birds were in serious trouble until very recently, and they are still red-listed in the UK, their population numbers plummeting due to the disease trichomonosis, which causes lesions in a bird’s throat and gullet, eventually leading to the bird not being able to feed and ultimately to its death. The disease is often more prevalent in garden birds because many people who feed their local birds don’t wash the feeders often enough, leading to the disease being passed on through contact with contaminated surfaces.

Fortunately, the Lodmoor Greenfinches have no need to visit the gardens of the houses that line one side of the reserve as they seem able to source enough food from the local vegetation; I spotted them picking out any remaining Hawthorn berries for the seeds within, and also picking at Blackthorn blossom, presumably for the newly forming fruit within.

I often find Greenfinches to be flighty birds but these males were so busy singing for mates and feeding up that I was able to get what are probably my best photos of them, and you can easily see why they are called Greenfinches.

Singing Dunnocks

21 Saturday Mar 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, dunnock, Prunella modularis

If you live in the UK, you may not necessarily have realised it but I’m sure most of you will have heard at least one singing Dunnock already this year; they’ve been singing here in south Wales for at least a month, and, in fact, the epithet modularis in their scientific name (Prunella modularis) is Latin for ‘modulating’, i.e. varying the strength, tone, or pitch of your voice, something the Dunnock is very good at.

Today’s ‘did you know?’ information comes from the Woodland Trust website:

Dunnocks can raise several broods of chicks per year. This means the population can be maintained despite some nests being taken over by cuckoos.

As I’m sure most of you are aware, the Cuckoo practises brood parasitism, laying its eggs in the nests of certain other bird species, and then taking no part in the rearing of its offspring.

Curious Coal tit

19 Thursday Mar 2026

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, coal tit, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Periparus ater

During a recent walk through the woodland at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, this little Coal tit (Periparus ater) popped up to say hello. Well, that statement’s probably not entirely accurate – I imagine it was much more interested in whether or not I was carrying any seed or other delicious titbits a small hungry bird might like to eat. And, as this particular Coal tit paused long enough for me to take its photo (which they often don’t do), I happily rewarded its curiosity.

Today’s amazing bird fact is brought to you courtesy of the BTO’s Facebook and Instagram accounts (posted in January 2026). Did you know that, although the average Coal tit has a two-year lifespan, the oldest Coal Tit yet recorded in Britain and Ireland ‘was ringed in Argyll & Bute, and recorded alive in the same place 9 years, 2 months and 25 days later!’

Busy Blue tits

17 Tuesday Mar 2026

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birding, birdwatching, Blue tit, British birds, Cyanistes caeruleus

The garden is busy with birds, large and small, flitting about the branches of the trees and large shrubs, peeking in to conveniently sized niches and crevices or picking out the perfect little twigs and small branches to fit into their planned constructions, searching for moss and lichen and dropped feathers to soften the interior of their chosen cavities or nests for the eggs and chicks soon to be laid within. Amongst them are the crevice-nesting Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), lots of them, chasing each other, singing out their partnership claims, advertising their personal charms. I’m convinced, but did you know (thanks to the Woodland Trust website for this interesting snippet):

Like all birds, blue tits can see ultra-violet light – the front of their head glows brightly under UV light, and this is how females are thought to choose their partners.

Local Little egrets

13 Friday Mar 2026

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Little egret

With these birds spreading rapidly throughout Britain, it was only a matter of time before Little egrets became frequent visitors, possibly even residents in my local area, especially as there are areas of moorland and wet fields bordered by trees where they should feel at home.

Judging by the number of times I’ve seen them in a couple of the local horse fields, they are also very comfortable there (one bird on 21 December, two on 8 February, and two on Wednesday, 11 March). As you can probably see, the ground has been well churned up by the hooves of the grazing horses. That disturbance, together with the amount of fertiliser the horses deposit, means the soil is probably full of delicious worms and small invertebrates.

On Wednesday, though there was a bitter wind blowing, we finally had bright sunshine between periods of large scudding clouds. It was the one day recently that I’d have been happy not to have had the glare of the sun, which made it difficult to photograph these two very white Little egrets, particularly as they were very close to the path I was on and quite settled, but I still really enjoyed having such close views of them feeding.

Cormorants, young and old

12 Thursday Mar 2026

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cormorant, Cormorant in breeding plumage, juvenile Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo

Though a handsome blend of browns, sometimes with a white belly, the juvenile Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is a bland bird compared to the adult, especially in the breeding season.

The adult shown below is a fine example of how striking these birds look during the breeding season, with their white ‘manes’ and thigh patch. (These two photos are the same bird, viewed from the left and right sides, as the bird held its wings low against its side in the first photo, and I wanted to get a photo showing the thigh patch.)

An interesting fact I didn’t know about the Cormorant but have just read on the RSPB website:

Despite being an agile underwater hunter, its feathers aren’t waterproof. In fact, wet feathers help this species to move quicker when on the prowl, reducing the bird’s buoyancy as it darts through the depths.

And, I guess, that’s why we often see Cormorants standing with their wings open, to dry them once they’ve finished fishing.

Little gull

03 Tuesday Mar 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Hydrocoloeus minutus, Little gull

Yesterday’s post about Siskin was the last from my recent mini break in Weymouth (though I have already booked a return visit in a couple of weeks). Luckily for me, no rare birds turned up in my home area while I was away; miraculously, the first, this Little gull, arrived the very next morning (Saturday 21 February). And it’s been present every day since, so I’ve managed to see it, albeit distantly, several times now, which has been good practice for my birding skills, picking out a single small gull among several hundred, mostly Black-headed gulls.

This year’s Little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) is a 2nd winter 3CY bird. If you don’t speak ‘birder’, that means the bird has just lived through its second winter, which means it was born in the summer of 2024, and, as it’s now 2026, is in its third calendar year. I am not experienced enough to have worked that out for myself but our local experts can tell from looking at the bird’s plumage. There is a very detailed description of the precise details on the Gull Research website but, in summary, at this stage the bird looks quite similar to an adult Little gull but still has some black feathers towards the tips of some of its upper wings.

During last Monday’s walk around part of Cardiff Bay, the wind was blasting across the water from a westerly direction. That didn’t make for very pleasant walking, or birding, as my eyes stream in the cold wind, but the weather did have one good point – it pushed many of the gulls closer to the Barrage pathway, which is how I managed to get these few photos, before the heavy rain came in and saw me stomping quickly homeward.