Friday 19 July 2013

Lodmoor RSPB - Thu 18 Jul

A last minute decision on Wednesday night to book today off work turned out to be a good one as it gave me a chance to head down to Weymouth and visit the RSPB reserve of Lodmoor. Arriving just before 9.00am I headed straight for the "Band Stand" viewing point.
On arrival I was pleased to bump in to a few birders that I knew and after the normal pleasantries I concentrated on the small Dunlin flock and contained therein a very nice White-rumped Sandpiper!
This is only the second White-rumped Sandpiper that I've seen, and funnily enough the other one was also at Lodmoor RSPB way back in 2000.
So with the rarity safely ticked off I continued around the reserve. A couple of Greenshank were present and amongst the small number of gulls present there were a pair of summer-plumaged Mediterranean Gulls. A female Marsh Harrier was hunting over the reed beds, causing a bit of a stir amongst the residents!
Interestingly enough, there were around twenty Common Terns present. The colony had deserted overnight a month or so ago, but apparently several birds had just arrived. Whether or not they will attempt breeding again this late in the summer or not is anyone's guess.
Anyway, by now it was getting extremely warm, so it was straight back to the car and air-conditioning!

No comments:

Post a Comment