An early start Sunday morning for Rob and I as we set off for Portland Dorset, I was up at three am and by 4am we were on our way. The target for the weekend was a white spotted bluethroat which had been at Chesil cove, Portland, Dorset for about a week, we both knew there would be a good chance that the bird would have moved on by the time we got there, so we wanted to be there for first light to improve our chances. We had two other species on the island as back-ups should the bluethroat not be there.

Once we arrived we quickly located the area and began to search for the little bird, after a couple of hours and about a dozen people looking we made the assumption (which proved to be correct) that the bird had gone. We moved to the next location for Black redstart and Ring Ouzel to be told on arrival by a couple of local birders that those birds had also moved on and were no longer present. Could it get much worse?

We made a decision to travel even more distance for Dartford warblers, these birds were showing well the previous day however, once again our luck was out as the wind picked up, scuppering any chance we had of seeing this elusive little bird. By now it was about 2pm and I had only took two shots of a meadow pipit. Totally deflated we headed back to our home County Devon. We decided to try and salvage something from the day and call in to a nature reserve where a Ring Ouzel has been for almost a week, certainly not expecting to see it the way our luck was going. Not knowing this area at all and having done no research prior to turning up was another mistake, locating the rear access of the site (which was where the bird had been seen) proved difficult to say the least, I drove up and down the same road three times. By this time fatigue was setting in and we thought its just time to go home as it would still take more than an hour to get home. We decided to try one more small lane we had not tried and thankfully we found the site. As we entered the car park I could see the bird in the distance.

Cameras and tripods at the ready we slowly made our way onto the reserve. Another photographer was already there so we let her finish before attempting to move any closer (still 100m away). Once she had finished we had a very brief chat and in we went kneeling down with tripods in front of us we edged slowly closer getting snagged in brambles and thorns in my hand we eventually were close enough for some shots, still a long way off but these birds are edgy so we dare not risk spooking it. A total of 320 miles later and we both were home, at least feeling a little better to have got some shots of a bird which was new for both of us.

Ring Ouzel