Another attempt (I've lost count of how many it is now) and another failure today as yet again I dipped out on Bee-eater in the UK. A juvenile had spent all day Monday at Swanage and was seen at 8.00am at Durlston, so as I had the day off work to look after Tristan whilst Ellie was at work I set off for the Isle of Purbeck. I must admit I did not have a good feeling, the skies were clear and it was a lovely warm day...no good for migrants hanging around, and sure enough this proved to be the case. I spent at least three hours wandering round Durlston Country Park and also made a visit to the site the Bee-eater was frequenting yesterday, but alas there was no sign of the bird. There were a few things to see at Durlston, with Goldcrests in particular being plentiful, and eventually my patience in checking every one I saw paid off as I found a Firecrest...some consolation for dipping my target, albeit a very small one! A pair of Stonechats were seen and a few Jays, Meadow Pipits, and Skylarks flew over, but I didn't see anything else to get me too excited.
After giving Tristan his lunch I decided that we might as well forget it, the bird had obviously moved on. So as we were in the area I drove on to Studland and parked in the South Car Park...costing me a pound for an hour, which was slightly less than the fiver I had to shell out at Durlston. At least three Ring-necked Parakeets could be heard calling from trees in the car park, and eventually one took flight. I then walked out to the cliff and scanned the sea, a total of six Black-necked Grebes were seen (though pager reports later in the day suggested many more). There was not much else about and other than seeing and hearing a couple more Ring-necked Parakeets and a Swallow flying south it was a quiet walk from the bird point of view so I decided to call it a day and head on home.
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