An Obliging Bird, A Special Moth and Plain Old Me
Plain Old Me
A couple of months ago I was facing a dilemma, my work hours were going through the roof and leaving me with little free time and what free time I did have was spent recovering. Do I stay at this job that I have enjoyed up to now or go back to my old job, work less hours, but knowing that I didn’t enjoy it. After a few weeks of debate, I made the decision to leave in the hopes of being able to enjoy my days off.
It’s been 6 weeks now and It’s safe to say that I have no regrets! I’ve gone from 60-70 hours over 5 days down to around 45 over 4. This has given me so much more time to get out into nature, not only am I getting more time off but I’m not having to use the days to recover from the previous week.
This wasn’t an easy decision, I really did enjoy my last job but I was sacrificing so much at home and not being able to do what I really enjoyed. It was made easier knowing I wasn’t going to be financially impacted (I’m actually earning more now!) but even If I was, I would still be glad having made the decision.
Before last weeks blog post there was a 4 month hiatus, now there’s two in as many weeks! I hope to be able to continue this trend with all this spare time!
Now enough of this personal stuff, I imagine you’ve come here to read about the moths and birds!
A Special Moth
On Sunday (5/9), I received a phone call from a friend, Alick Simmons, with the exciting news of a rare moth he had caught in his trap. The moth in question was a Clifden nonpareil, a moth I’ve always wanted to see. He offered to hold on to it so I could come and take a few pictures, this would be the first moth that I would ‘twitch’…
This striking moth was well worth the trip, its vast size and electric blue underwing have to be seen in the flesh to be fully appreciated. The Clifden was still in fairly good condition and after taking a couple of focus stacks we released it into a bush so it could wait for the darkness to descend.
Once the Clifden had been released, we sat and talked birds and moths over a cup of tea. Portland in Dorset came up a couple of times and it turns out that we both had plans to be down there over the next few days. In my head, a plan had developed that would see me set off in the early hours of Tuesday morning to arrive down at Portland for the crack of dawn.
An Obliging Bird
Part One, Ferry Bridge
My alarm woke me at 0400 on Tuesday morning, I made myself a cup of tea and got the last of things together, careful not to wake Ellie upstairs! I still hadn’t made up my mind as to where I was going to be during sunrise but after rechecking the tide times I settle on Ferry Bridge.
Ferry Bridge is the point where Portland harbour meets the Fleet lagoon (top, left of centre) and it’s a great place for wading birds including Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Sanderling. The high tide that morning was due an hour after sunrise, perfect for the light and the birds!
It took just over an hour to get down to Ferry Bridge and after paying for parking I had a quick scan around with the binoculars. There wasn’t much visible on the harbourside so I head on back towards the lagoon, this is when I met fellow photographer, Brian Chard. After a short chat, we sat down on the far side of the lagoon in the hopes of shooting some backlit waders.
We were on-site for around 90 minutes and in that time we came away with… well not a lot! Just some blurry Little Egrets and a few Black-headed Gulls in the morning light. Brian was itching to get on and photograph the main attraction on the island, the very showy Wrynecks. So we parted ways, certain to meet again if the bird was performing.
I spent another 30 minutes on site which was spent photographing Wheatears and the Little Egrets. At this point, the aforementioned Alick arrives, greeted by a rather lacklustre scene. After a short chat and exchange of information surrounding the Wrynecks whereabouts, we part ways and I head down to the Bill in the hopes of catching a glimpse of this special bird.
Map of Portland: Ferry Bridge - top, left of centre. Portland Bill - bottom, centre.
Part Two, Portland Bill
After a short drive across the isle of Portland, I arrived at the main car park at the Bill. I handed over my life’s savings to the ticket machine and set off past the red and white lighthouse in search of a bird or two.
After 5 minutes of walking and admiring the huge numbers of Wheatears, my eyes were drawn to a dragonfly flying up a gully. At a glance I could have sworn it was a Southern Migrant Hawker but after a short chase, I lost sight of it, you can’t get them all!
I was in the process of turning back from the ledge that the dragon had lead me to when some movement caught my eye, it was coming from behind a small bit of shrub on a gravel bank less than 10 meters away. All of a sudden a Kestrel takes 3 hops out from behind the bush and starts devouring its breakfast, making menacing eye contact with me between bites.
The Kestrel was not bothered by my presence at all, it must be very used to people down there. It only flew off when the Ravens caught wind of its meal, a chase ensued and the Kestrel vanished down towards the coast.
After the excitement with the Kestrel was over my thoughts soon turned back to the Wryneck, it would be a shame to miss it but I was already pretty happy with the shots of the day so it wouldn’t have been a wasted trip.
I made my way back to the path and saw three photographers pointing at a bird on a rock, ‘could it be?’ I thought to myself and trotted the 20 or so meters to their location. This was indeed the bird I had come down for, living up to its reputation of being extremely showy.
After firing away some shots and gathering my composure I noticed that Brian was one of those photographers. He told me that it had just appeared moments before my arrival which was perfect timing on my part, makes a nice change from being moments too late!
Over the next half hour, we watched the bird feeding on the path and having a good preen, much to the delight of the now dozen or so bird watchers and photographers present. I noticed a familiar face, fellow Somerset photographer Dave had made the trip down for the Wryneck. These rare birds often leed into social occasions.
After the bird has done feeding it flew off in a southerly direction, some birders followed but I retreated back to the car for a drink and some food.
I was now debating whether to head-on or try and get another view of the Wryneck, the light was getting a little harsh for photography and the wind was really blowing by this point. I elected to try and get another view of the bird, how often do you get to see a Wryneck as showy as this! I set off in the direction of the birders and came across a group, cameras lowered, and I feared it to have been lost.
Judging from the position of people and the direction of their gazes, I soon guessed that the bird had gone down amongst the rocks and not flown off. I slowly worked my way around to a vantage point on the other side of the rocks in the hope of getting a better view. After some scanning, I picked up the bird feeding in the shadows, much to the delight of the recently arrived birders and photographers.
There was the usual ‘no, not that rock!' as everyone tried to show each other the Wrynecks well-chosen feeding spot, everyone eventually got a view. By this point there were a couple more familiar faces in the crowd, Penny and Ann had also made their way down from Somerset so it was good to have a chat with them.
By this point, I’d been with the Wryneck for almost 3 hours, taken over 500 pictures and my throat ached from all the talking! It was time to head home and hope the pictures would look half decent on the big screen.
