In his classic book 1984, George Orwell introduced his Newspeak language, where words were removed from the English language to simply it. But the removal of words were also to control the population from being able to fully express themselves. So, many words like fabulous, tremendous or amazing were replaced with the phrase Double Plus Good. Well here is my use of Double Plus Good.
After a run of grey days at St Aldhelms, the morning started off with the promise of a change in the weather. Still conditions, high cloud, as well as, a lot of clear sky. There were regular parties of a few hundred Woodpigeons on the move and all heading South East towards Durlston. A lone Fieldfare headed North which belatedly was my first of the Autumn. I had just passed the open barn when a Golden Plover flew over calling. It circled on a number of occasions, hoping for some mates below to call back. But as St Aldhelms isn't a wintering site, it didn't get a response & finally moved on. I saw Ian Parsons who is one of the most recent Birders to move to Purbeck & waited for him to catch me up. There was plenty of Skylarks appearing from the fields, but so far nothing too exciting. We carried onto the hedges at the very top of Pier Bottom valley, just North of Trev's Quarry. This is the start of my favourite corner of the patch. It's a migrant trap and it's always worth a good look. There was a party of at least eight Yellowhammers skulking in the bushes. They weren't close, so I set the scope up to check them. All were Yellowhammers, until I saw one with a dark chin and a bit of dark rufous on the mantle. It was tucked well in & I could only see parts of it. I had to move the scope three times before I got a clearer view. My initial thoughts were right: a Male Cirl Bunting. I called Ian to look through the scope, whilst pleased to have finally joined the Cirl Bunting in Purbeck Self-found Club. It flew into the bare field next to the bushes, but it was too far for more than a record shot. But over the next hour it appeared in the closer bushes and allowed a few photos.
Even better, while I was scoping the bushes with the Yellowhammers & the Male Cirl Bunting in them, I picked up a second Cirl Bunting again tucked well into the bushes. On this occasion, I could see it wasn't an adult Male. Initially, I could see it had a bit of dark rufous flecking in the gorget, as well as, on the wing coverts. Like the adult Male, it appeared in the closer bushes on a few occasions, which allowed me to get some photos. Initially, I thought it was an first Winter Male as, it seemed brighter than a couple of Purbeck Females I've seen over the last two Springs locally. But being in the breeding season and with the possibility they might settle down on territory, on both occasions I didn't linger with those Females.
Ageing and sexing of non-adult Males is tricky. But after reading up, I now believe it is a Female, albeit I'm uncertain about its age. As these St Aldhelms individuals haven't held territory at St Aldhelms and were out of the breeding season, so I felt more comfortable hanging around and watching them, as well as, putting the news out about them.
Ian was short on time, so he moved on in the hope that the Pallas's Warbler (see my last Blog Post), that Phil Saunders had found a couple of days earlier might still be around: but it had moved on. Eventually, I managed to get reasonable photos of both Cirl Buntings, albeit the light wasn't great.
It certainly had been a Double Plus Good morning with my first St Aldhelms Cirl Buntings. The day wasn't over yet, but as Orwell didn't produce a phrase for better than Double Plus Good, I will have to leave the rest of the time at St Aldhelms to the next Blog Post.