This is the date that all my records begin. Laurel and I had only recently started birdwatching seriously, I had been interested as a boy, but, Laurel had never considered it at home on Guernsey. Earlier in the year we had joined the Bristol Ornithological Club and through that had met more experienced and adventurous birders. To begin with the group consisted of Tim Cleeves, Roy Smith, Bob Richardson, John Rossetti and Paul Andrew - I think they let us join them because we had a car. Roy had an old, black Morris Minor, but nobody liked going in that! We had a reasonably new Vauxhall Viva which was far more comfortable and it meant that I did all the driving. Later, there were other regulars like Kieth Vinicombe and Anthony Merritt, with others joining us when we had space. So, the first few months were a steep learning curve of common species, when nearly everything was new.

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Today, Laurel and I were at the start of a week's holiday to Portland, staying at a guest house in Weymouth. Our first stop was at Ferrybridge were we saw an immature Tawny Pipit and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, both new for us, also seeing a Little Gull, a Little Stint and several Sanderling.

We then drove to Portland where we saw another new bird, a Wryneck, also around the fields at the bill were Whinchat, Turtle Dove, Redstart, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, Kestrel and Little Owl.