Abbotsbury and Weymouth - Sun 6 Jan

Some proper birding today as I was picked up at 7.10am and driven down to Abbotsbury where we met up with friends and had a great day of birding with good company.
Abbotsbury Swannery produced a flock of around thirty Cattle Egrets leaving their roost at around 8.20am and on the Fleet we picked out a drake Scaup amongst Pochard and Tufted Duck. No sign of the long-staying Whooper Swan though unfortunately.
After a while we headed towards Weymouth, stopping at Chickerell where we walked down to East Fleet Farm and, after hearing it call on and off for about half an hour, finally got views (albeit brief) of a Dusky Warbler.
Sandsfoot Castle and Portland Harbour was our next port of call where at least two hundred Mediterranean Gulls passed over and in the harbour we picked out both Great Northern Diver and Black-throated Diver and a good number of Black-necked Grebes.
Off then to the centre of Weymouth and a visit to Radipole RSPB where we soon located the drake Ring-necked Duck, though it was rather distant. A walk around the reserve produced some great views of Bearded Tits and eventually we picked up a Yellow-browed Warbler.

Our next stop was Lodmoor RSPB and after a fair amount of searching we got some good but distant views of a Lesser Yellowlegs before it took flight and landed out of sight. A nice Ruff was also present.

Off the beach in Weymouth Bay we found a Common Scoter and two Eider plus at least one Red-necked Grebe.
We finished the day at Bowleaze but despite our best efforts failed to find any Short-eared Owls, not that it mattered too much as we had a brilliant day.