Rock Thrush – Portland Bill Bird Observatory, Portland, Dorset, 16th April 1988
On Saturday the 16th April I was at Portland Bill, where it just felt ‘rare’, with misty conditions and some migrants.
I and others were chatting with the Warden, Mike Rogers outside the entrance to the Bird Observatory, after he suggested he had just seen a Rock Thrush opposite in what is known as the Crown Estate Field, and we then saw it as it flew away from the edge of the Observatory garden.
It was clearly a large chat-type thrush. Unfortunately, though, we and I only had brief views in poor viewing conditions as it was misty. I watched it flying along the field edge before briefly landing and then flying away again into the mist.
It had a strong direct flight which was like that of a compromise between a Starling and a Wheatear. Owing to the viewing conditions not much colouration could be directed other than the white rear to the body.
I (and others, obviously) then spent long hours looking for it in the Easton and Weston areas both that day and during the week, which mainly involved attempting to search quarries full of mist..... . I couldn’t attempt the same the following day as I had an appointment with a Black Stork..... .
Finally, the following week, on Saturday the 23rd April, after similar searches including searches of the cliffs at Weston, I and many others got views of it as it finally gave itself up in the distant corner of a ploughed field at Weston. This time the blue head and upper back, the black primaries, secondaries and coverts, white lower back and orange under-parts and tail were much more apparent.... !
Hurrah!! This was my 278th British tick.
Incredibly, on Saturday the 6th May the following year I was birding at Portland Bill with the then Alison Bunting and as we walked over the hill from the Naval Establishment up the back of the Pulpit pub, I was on something when Alison said, "You’d better come and see this". I was annoyed – because I was ‘on something’, and she wasn’t responding and instead just kept just saying, “You’d better come and see this”, but in the end I relented. I was confronted with a fast-gathering crowd down near the Obs. Whatever, the ‘something’ was was quickly forgotten and we raced down to the Obs. Once there, I was able to enjoy my second Rock Thrush at Portland Bill within just over a year!!!
This is something of a minimalist account, as I haven’t been able
to find any relevant photographs….. . Then again, maybe some of the others are overly long?😊
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