Dorset Trip (Part 1)

Saturday 29^th May

A week in Dorset, what more could I ask for? Well to start with I would have preferred if the rarest Lancashire bird for 3 years, the stunning White Tailed Lapwing at Seaforth, could have turned up a week earlier so I could have tried to see it. Hopefully it will stick around or move to a more accessible location by the time I get back. Anyway the day started at 6 with packing for the week and listening to the Sedge Warbler calling behind my garden. I set my self a target of seeing 100 species for the week and had 17 target species I wanted to see, Balearic Shearwater, Nightjar, Dartford Warbler and Woodlark the main targets. I started my list when we got into the car and the first species was the local Mallard pair sat on top of my neighbour’s roof. Unfortunately the weather was horrible for the first 2 hours and my list was struggling to get into double figures. After 3 hours the weather lifted slightly and my first unexpected sight of the trip was a pair of Little Egrets which flew out of a field by the motorway. My heart jumped slightly when I thought 1 of the birds had an orange bill but was mistaken and they were both of the commoner variety. The rest of the journey passed without anything of particular interest, ending with 31 species on arrival at the cottage in Osmington, about 5 miles from Weymouth. The weather still was brilliant but since we were staying only a mile from the sea I decided to explore the area and walk down to the beach. Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers were calling from the woods along the path to the beach as was a single Lesser Whitethroat. The sea was very rough as there was a strong offshore wind blowing towards the land. I only took a brief look but a single Gannet passed west while I was there. A Rock Pipit fed busily on the rocks below me on the cliff taking the day total up to 39 species.

Sunday 30^th May

Planned to get up early so I could walk down to the beach and see what wildlife the local area had to offer; fat chance that was going to happen. Drowsily pulled myself out of bed at 9 but was down at the beach for 10. The sea was completely devoid of birds except for a single Cormorant briefly fishing. The History of the coast here was obvious to see with old gun emplacements all along the coast pointing out to sea, towards an oncoming storm. I took a brief rest at 1 of these battlements to take a look through the gorse bushes lining the edge of the cliff. A pair of Linnets flitted from top to top as they moved slowly eastwards, the male in stunning full breeding plumage. The local Jackdaws were squabbling at their nests on the cliff face until they got distracted by a large female Peregrine Falcon surveying the area for any prey, before setting it’s sights on a pigeon and setting off in hot pursuit; unfortunately this time she failed to make a kill but I’m sure she will succeed soon. By this time the weather system was moving in so we headed back to the cottage, the walk producing Skylark, Whitethroat and Reed Bunting for the trip list. A brief lunch stop was extended to give time to watch the Grand Prix; Hamilton and Button finishing 1^st and 2^nd J then a quick afternoon visit to my first reserve of the holiday, RSPB Lodmoor. The noise from the tern colony hit me as I stepped out of the car and I immediately headed for the cacophony coming from the closest lake. Over 70 Common Terns were nesting on the 2 shingle islands in the centre of the lake with birds constantly coming and going as they made their way over our heads and out to sea to fish. After looking through them few minutes the whole flock was spooked by a Kestrel overhead and I was able to pick out the single Arctic Tern which was holding territory in the centre of the colony. Apart from the terns there was very little birdlife on the lake with a few pairs of Tufted Duck and Shelduck present and a small flock of 9 Dunlin busily feeding in the shallows. We decided to walk down to the reed area of the reserve to try and connect with a few warblers. The bushes by the path were alive with birds with Chiffchaffs and Whitethroats being the commonest species. The best sight however was a family of 3 recently fledged Willow Warblers being fed franticly by the parent’s right next to path, seemingly undisturbed by the presence of people. The reeds themselves were full of singing Sedge and Reed Warblers, all other sound seemed to be drowned out by these charismatic yet elusive creatures. Even more elusive was a Water Rail which was calling but evaded being seen apart from a split second view as it moved from 1 area of cover to another. Unfortunately at this point we had to leave and with no more additions to the list the day ended on 62 species for the week.

Monday 31^st May
Another hot day, British weather finally coming good at the time I needed it to. The morning was spent lazing around the house while everyone else was out shopping, not my favourite pastime in the world, before an afternoon visit to the local reserves. My parents dropped me down at the visitor centre at Radipole RSPB right in the centre of Weymouth, an interesting yet in my opinion not a great site for a reserve as the noise from the nearby roads and train track could be heard all across the reserve. By the visitor centre was a small corridor of water and a small group of mallards getting fed by the public. Almost immediately I picked out a smaller and more colourful individual, even without binoculars it was obvious I was looking at the male Hooded Merganser. As I watched it it became obvious why it has become such a problem for the committees to decide if it is a genuine vagrant or an escapee. At times it was mingling with the mallards quite happily and was even taking bread that the public were feeding to it; however at other times it was successfully fishing along the edge of the reeds acting perfectly wild. It goes on my trip list and joins Ross’s Goose on my non BOU life list but not on my world life or year lists. Away from the merganser both species of grebe were present on the main lake as were 3 Black Tailed Godwits on the island. Apart from these it was surprisingly quiet so I decided to walk a kilometre or so to the north hide where I hoped to get Marsh Harrier. The reeds along the path were alive with Reed and Sedge Warblers and a few Cettis’ Warblers put in brief appearances. There was a local birder in North Hide who gave me the simple sentence of nothing whatsoever when I asked if anything had been seen. A nice surprise came when a pair of Turtle Doves (year tick) flew west over the lake and past the hide, the first of my targets for the trip. I wasn’t getting the feeling that Radipole was the great reserve I had heard about so I decided to pack up early and walk down to Lodmoor; personally for me a much nicer reserve. A couple of birders were at the viewpoint overlooking the main lake on the reserve and they pointed out the Arctic Tern to me on the closest island. Single Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers were feeding on the mud at the back of the lake along with a quartet of Dunlins in full summer plumage. Every now and then all the terns flew up from the islands, usually without any obvious reason, however on 1 occasion a large female peregrine gave them real cause for concern. Time was pressing so I started to head back along the coastal path to Osmington. A pair of Sandwich Terns fishing at the base of the cliff brought my trip tern list up to 3 species. Then as I was watching them a pair of Buzzards (record shot of 1 doing a kestrel impression below) flew over me mewing before diving towards the cliff; as they rose up again they were joined by 3 more then another 2 appeared from the south all circling upwards on a thermal. They were also joined by a pair of Ravens, what I sight! The rest of the afternoon passed without incident until me and my mum headed off to Portland to stay the night at the bird observatory. Upon arrival there were a few birders set up with scopes on the patio. A steady trickle of Manx Shearwaters (year tick) were heading past quite close in to the shore along with smaller number of Fulmar (year tick) and larger numbers of Guillemots and Razorbills. About 40 shearwaters passed before the light started to go so we turned in for the night, an early morning awaited. The day ended on 78 species for the trip.

Tuesday 1^st June

Rain. Great for gardeners yet terrible for my only morning at the bird obs. The weather meant that the mist nets couldn’t be put up for trapping birds so my ideas of seeing passerines in the hand quickly evaporated. Despite this I could see quite far out to sea so I set up my scope and did a couple of hours of sea watching. A small count of 13 Manx Shearwaters flew past (12 west, 1 east) and no sign of any BalearicsL. A single Shag (year tick) flew east as did 9 Common Scoters and a steady trickle of auks flew towards the colonies on the west cliffs. Unfortunately after 8 am the visibility decreased to such a level that the sea was no longer visible so we headed of home slightly disappointed. The weather was slowly getting better in the afternoon so my parents decided to go down to the swannery at Abbotsbury to try and see some young hatching. I tagged along in the hope that there would be some birds on the fleet, I was right. The swannery was an interesting place with over 300 Mute Swans nesting sometimes in the middle of the paths through the various pens. In any other part of the country the parents wouldn’t let you within a mile of their young without trying to see you off, whereas there I had to use the macro setting on my camera because the young were too close! A pair of Black Swans was also nesting amongst the sea of mutes, providing a splash of colour amongst the endless white. I decided to set up at the end of the bank looking out onto the fleet where there was a wide range of species present. As I was scanning along the bank of Chesil beach I picked out a large white bird flying high above the water, mute swan I thought considering where we were, however I decided to take a look anyway. Much less stockier built than the swans and a huge bill meant it could only be 1 species, Spoonbill (year tick)! It carried on its flight path before landing on the far bank and started feeding busily. I managed to get my dad onto it as it was feeding, a lifer for him. Great Crested Grebes were everywhere on the fleet with 18 counted in 1 sweep with my binoculars. There was an island in the middle of the water and a closer look revealed terns nesting on it, mainly Common Tern but a pair of Arctic Terns was flying around as well. After the swan feed we headed back and while my parents were looking at the shop I went off to the car. A loud and distinct call came from a nearby wood as a medium size bird shot out and landed on a telegraph pole; my first of many Green Woodpeckers (year tick) on the trip and one of my favourite noises in the bird world. Nothing more to see so we headed home and with no more holiday ticks the day ended on 84 species.