26 May 22 - A Studland Alpine Swift

In 2022, I was doing a historic Isle of Purbeck Year List. The drawback of year listing is sometimes you end up having to chase species in locations you wouldn't normally do. Today was a good example with me spending about 2.5 hours in the afternoon unsuccessfully looking for a Little Gull from Slepe Heath, that the Birds of Poole Harbour Bird Boat had seen that morning in the Wareham Channel. Eventually, I decided to give up & head to Poole for a weekly food shop.

I hadn't got far when Paul Morton rang. He had received a message that he had seen an Alpine Swift over the cliffs at Old Harry. I quickly turned the car around. It wasn't clear if the Alpine Swift was hanging around or not. I decided to head for the Middle Beach car park. I could scan over the Southern end of Studland Bay & the Old Harry area with the scope & cover the area quickly, compared to the twenty minute walk out to Old Harry. After a few minutes of scanning, I could see a lone powerful Swift occasionally breaking the skyline over the wood at the end of Old Harry. I rang Paul back to say it was still present at Old Harry & we should head there. It took me a few minutes to move the car to the South Beach car park & I rang the updated news around the locals as I was walking out.

Alpine Swift

Paul & a couple of the Birds of Poole Harbour team had beaten me to Old Harry & they were watching it hawk up & down along the cliff edge about a couple of hundred metres South of Old Harry. I had decided that there was no point in taking the camera with me to look for the Little Gull. So, I arrived at Old Harry without a camera. The following photos were taken with my mobile. But the mobile was great for some slow motion videos of the Alpine Swift as it flew within a few metres of where we were sitting on the cliff edge. Unfortunately, the videos are too large to upload. I will need to find some video editing software to select the best part.

Alpine Swift

This would only be the fourth record for Studland. The previous records were over: one over Godlingston Heath (1 May 87) found by Steve Morrison, two over Knoll Beach car park (29 Mar 88) and one North over the Studland dunes (5 May 93). The latter two records were from visiting Birders and do not appear to have ever been formally submitted to the Dorset Bird Club. The two in 1988 were submitted, but only for Swanage on the following two days.

It was an enjoyable local twitch

The Alpine Swift stayed until 08:20 the following morning, before it drifted off over the sea & was lost to view. The handful of Birders who saw it that morning, also got to see David Attenborough, who was filming a sequence for the Wild Isles series. An even better sighting that the Alpine Swift.

5 May 14 - Birds Of The Croatian Hills

It was another early start to get up to the Velji Do road in the hills above Cavtat, Croatia to get the most out of our long weekend there. We dropped Ken & Gav at the viewpoint to walk along the road as the rest of us headed to the small village of Velji Do. This gave me some time for general photography around the village, while the Andy & Edge heading off in various directions for some general birding.

There are a few great trees by Velji Do village

Wood Warbler 

Subalpine Warbler: Male of the Eastern albistriata subspecies. Ironically, one reappeared at Portland Bill on the day we left for Croatia

Subalpine Warbler: Female

Subalpine Warbler: Female

Spotted Flycatcher: They were fairly commonly encountered

Black-eared Wheatear: Male. This is the Eastern melanoleuca subspecies

Black-eared Wheatear: Female. There was a pair around the village, but it took some time to get close to them

Cirl Bunting: Male. This is the nominate cirlus subspecies which occurs from the UK to the Mediterranean & North Africa, but is replaced by nigrostriata on Corsica & Sardinia

Wall

Dalmatian Wall Lizard: Mating pair. They looked superficially similar to Sand Lizards (which also occurs in the same habitat on the Adriatic coast). Males have a green mottled back and this intense orange throat

When we all met up, we decided that as it was much colder & windier than the previous morning, we would drop down to explore the valley bottom next to the airport. This proved to be a good decision as it was a lot more sheltered & pleasant there. We found a small minor road crossing the valley bottom & made a number of stops along that road.

The minor road across the valley bottom

The hills above Cavtat: The Velji Do area is further to the left & off the photo

Yellow-legged Gull: Adult. The nominate michahellis subspecies breeds on the islands in the bay

Spotted Flycatcher

Golden Oriole: Male. Despite being commonly heard, this was the only one that showed itself long enough for a photo

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Heading back into Cavtat for a late breakfast, I spotted a party of Alpine Swifts hawking over the hillside next to a block of flats, on the edge of town. Having dropped the others at the accommodation, I headed back for an impromptu photo session.

Alpine Swift: This is the nominate melba subspecies

Alpine Swift

After a late breakfast, we quickly packed & moved all the bags into one room, which we were allowed to keep until the evening. Again another sign of how helpful Antun & Natasha were. We then headed into Dubrovnik for early afternoon to do the tourist thing.