ITINERARY: 

Day 1 – Arrival day – Thursday June 03rd
Please try to arrival by 6pm at The ‘Heights Hotel’, Portland for a welcome reception followed by dinner and a rundown of the next couple of days. (D)

Day 2 – Portland Bird Observatory, Portland Bill, Radipole and Lodmoor RSPB Reserves – June 04th
We will start the day after a hearty breakfast with a visit to the Bird Observatory and its small garden, often a magnet to migrants. Whilst birding the immediate area we will indulge in a guided tour of the Observatory itself to learn about the work carried out there. If we are lucky, we may be able to witness the ringing of some migrant birds. We will then talk a leisurely walk to Portland Bill birding the fields and scrub along the way. We will hopefully pick up the resident Little Owls in the tiny quarry that lies near the Observatory plus a variety of possible migrants. After lunch we will then journey onto the mainland to visit the RSPB’s Radipole Lake within the urban surrounds of the town of Weymouth. The reedbeds here are home to Bearded Tits and Cetti’s Warblers, along with more commoner Reed and Sedge Warblers, and smart looking male Reed Buntings. We will be keeping a keen eye out for any passing migrants, such as swallows, martins and swifts, plus a variety gulls and terns sat around the lakes. who knows a flash of bright blue may betray a glorious Common Kingfisher. Later in the afternoon we will make the short trip to the nearby Lodmoor RSPB Reserve, still within urban Weymouth. Its combination of reedbed, open water, saltmarsh, wet grassland and scrub makes it an ideal venue for breeding birds and possible lurking migrants. We will spend the rest of our day trying to eke out ducks, Western Marsh Harrier, terns and a variety of waders. If we are blessed with a calm, warm night we will venture out after dinner to see if we can track down nearby breeding European Nightjars.
Night at the Heights Hotel  (B,L,D)

Day 3 – Poole Harbour – Brownsea Island – Arne RSPB Reserve – June 05th
Today, we will head to Poole Harbour after another fabulous breakfast, to catch the morning ferry to Brownsea Island – the site where Little Egrets first bred in Britain back in 1996. It will be an hour’s drive to reach the ferry port and from there about a 20 minute crossing where we can start looking for a few terns and gulls. We will then visit the Dorset Wildlife Trust’s nature reserve to search for the resident population of Red Squirrels, a species surviving in one of a very few sites in England. Most are in Scotland which is over 500 miles away. We will hopefully get to watch Eurasian Spoonbill, Little Egret and breeding terns from the Lagoon Hides. After lunch, we get the ferry back to the mainland and drift around this beautiful stretch of coastline stopping where the desire takes us to bird the shore and surrounding hinterland before ending our beautiful day at Arne RSPB Reserve. We will be treated to a slightly different vista and habitat to what we were experiencing previously: dramatic open heathland and ancient oak woodland, where we will be searching for Dartford Warbler, Common Whitethroats, Woodlark, Tree Pipit, Common Cuckoo, Common Redstart, Eurasian Stonechat, Yellowhammer, or the reeling call of a Grasshopper Warbler. Dragonflies and butterflies should be plentiful if the sun is out, and may including the rare Silver-studded Blue. We may be lucky to spot an aerobatic Eurasian Hobby hunting and eating dragonflies while on the wing. Arne is also one of the few places in the country where it is possible to find all six species of UK reptile, although some like the Smooth Snake are highly protected and it is illegal to disturb them. After a fantastic day out, we will return back to our comfortable hotel and go through our wildlife checklist together. Happy days!
Night at the Heights Hotel  (B,L,D)

Day 4 – Portland Bill – Chesil Beach and beyond – June 06th
After a final breakfast we may take a couple of hours for another look around the hotel and surrounding scrub, perhaps checking the nearby Chesil Beach for waders and perhaps slightly beyond for before we depart home. (B,L)