I headed south and spent my afternoon off in Weymouth at Lodmoor RSPB reserve. Arriving at 2.30pm there were loads of low-flying Swifts due to the encroaching dark clouds, and within an hour misty rain started falling, though fortunately only for half an hour or so.
I walked the circuit spending a while overlooking the ternery. A single Arctic Tern was amongst the Common Terns and it got some pretty harsh treatment from its cousins, being repeatedly chased off and harassed. There were at least forty Common Terns, many in courtship:
As I continued round the reserve I saw a few different waders including a single Bar-tailed Godwit, thirty-five Dunlin, two Ringed Plovers and a few Oystercatchers:
It was about 4.00pm by the time I completed the walk and got back to the car and I was hoping to connect with a Savi's Warbler that had been at the reserve for a few days. I was feeling rather confident as I had seen some very confiding Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warblers whilst walking around.
However, it was not going to be easy as there was a lot of background noise but my patience paid off as at 4.30pm I heard the Savi's Warbler singing for about a minute before it went quiet again. I staked out the area until gone 5.00pm and despite seeing a warbler that seemed to tick all the boxes the view was too brief for me to nail it, however, a Bearded Tit flying across the reeds was a nice bonus. So I called it a day and set off home.
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