Abbotsbury - Fri 3 Apr

A pleasant afternoon spent at Abbotsbury produced some cracking birds. Starting off with a visit to the Swannery I finally (after three or four attempts) connected with the long-staying Greenland Whitefront Goose, and it was showing very well from within the Swannery grounds.

Continuing the walk around the Swannery I scanned the Fleet and soon located the four Long-tailed Ducks, but they were far too distant for me to even attempt a photo. I decided against a walk out to the meadow hide as it was rather muddy and wet but it didn't matter too much as I had already successfully 'scoped the Black-winged Stilt from the Swannery entrance! This is the second Black-winged Stilt I'd seen on the meadow pool, the other being seen in April 2012.
Leaving the Swannery I drove round to the Sub-tropical Gardens and rounded off a lovely afternoon with some rather good views of a singing Firecrest!