One of the two Bill Black Redstarts © Keith Pritchard:
And to end, a bit of off-island interest. The annual departure of Weymouth's wintering Bitterns is something that we've wanted to witness for a while (...this event hadn't been 'discovered' all those years ago when we used to scrutinise the gulls in Weymouth every evening but would have packed up and gone home before dusk) and after drawing a blank on several visits to Lodmoor last year we gave Radipole a try this evening. This isn't an event that offers anything to anyone who wants feather perfect views but it turned out to be as wholly gripping as we'd imagined it was going to be: this evening's bird appeared about half-an-hour after sunset when there was still plenty enough light to follow it in silhouette although only just about enough to get some photos...
...it circled the north end of the reserve at relatively low level for a couple of minutes...
...all the time calling as it went. Whilst Radipole has very many merits, these days you maybe don't really get the feel for being at one with nature there, what with the constant din of traffic, trains, yobs and whatever else gets in the way of making a nice clean sound recording!...
...finally, after a third circuit, it gained height and headed away steadily to the northeast to end what had been a truly exciting little event (many thanks to Dick Morris in particular for allowing us to tap into his experiences with departing birds at Lodmoor) © Martin Cade: