Sutton Bingham - Mon 25 Oct

A nice evening so I popped up to the reservoir after work and for once most of the action was on West Pool as opposed to the southern end. A total of twenty-one Wigeon and twelve Tufted Duck were present as were two Little Grebes, with a third on the main lake. My first Fieldfare of the winter was present feeding in bushes on the railway embankment.
I did spend a bit of time at the far end of the reservoir, seeing a party of foraging Long-tailed Tits and a Jay gathering acorns, but not much else other than a couple of fly-over Collared Doves.

Moors Valley CP and Blashford Lakes - Sun 24 Oct

Ellie and I had been invited down to Verwood for dinner on Saturday night, so we decided to stay over at Laura and Paul’s and had a most enjoyable evening. Come Sunday morning we were all a little jaded so we headed off to Moors Valley Country Park for a fried breakfast and a stroll. In lovely autumn sun we spent an hour or so walking around the park. Admittedly this was not a birding walk but I kept my eyes open and saw a few things as we walked along. A few Teal were present on one of the lakes, and a pair of Siskin fed in a silver birch above our heads. After a pleasant walk we bid farewell to Laura and Paul and headed off to Blashford Lakes.
We parked by the Ibsley Water hide and Ellie waited in the car whilst I had a quick look around. Before long I had found the bird I was after, a Pink-footed Goose grazing on the far bank with Greylag Geese. There were a couple of Lapwing present and on the water there were a surprising number of Little Grebes, I must have seen at least a dozen.
After our late night and knowing it was a good ninety minute drive back home, we set off soon after 2.00pm.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 23 Oct

An hour long late afternoon visit produced the first returning Wigeon of the winter, with ten on West Pool and another dozen or so at the southern end.
Three Tufted Duck were on West Pool and at the southern end there were a small number of Teal.
A couple of Skylarks were heard flying over, and a Kingfisher was also heard calling though not seen. Also over the reservoir, three Stock Doves.
Having got caught in one heavy shower, when a second arrived I decided to call it a day and headed on home.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 21 Oct

A pleasant evening and as I finished work at 4.00pm I picked Ellie up from home and we popped up to Sutton Bingham. We decided to take a walk around the southern end of the reservoir, as we did so I saw my first Redwing of the winter as it flew over. There were not many birds about, though a Goldcrest was feeding on some of the waterside willows. On West Pool there were seven Tufted Duck.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 19 Oct

I managed to catch the last hour or so of light at the reservoir and was surprised not by the quality of birds present, but by the numbers. I drove straight to the hide and spent fifty minutes watching and waiting. There was nothing of interest on the water, but a flock of eleven Long-tailed Tits were feeding near the hide. A total of thirty three Pied Wagtails flew over north, including a flock of over twenty birds. Several gulls flew south, including at least one Common Gull. As the light was fading there was a massive movement of corvids flying over the hide from the opposite side of the reservoir, this included well over two hundred Jackdaws and a similar number of Rooks.
Leaving the hide, I drove up to the northern causeway and spent ten minutes or so scanning the area in what was now pretty poor light. A female Tufted Duck was on the West Pool, whilst on the main reservoir there must have been well over five hundred gulls, made up of Black-headed, Herring, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. So with hardly any light remaining I came on home.

Melcombe Bingham - Sat 16 Oct

Ellie and I headed off after lunch to the village of Melcombe Bingham to try and connect with a Yellow-browed Warbler that had been present for the past few days. I knew that this was purely a twitch, but for once I had everything in my favour as today was my birthday...so I got to choose what I wanted to do!
We arrived mid-afternoon and luckily updated directions came out on my pager twenty minutes before we arrived at the village. We parked in the village and followed the instructions on the pager and fortunately as we arrived a couple of birders were on their way back after seeing the bird so we got bang up date gen on where the Yellow-browed Warbler was. However, we still had to stake it out for fifteen or so minutes as it skulked in a maple tree, but it eventually showed really well, and both Ellie and I delighted in seeing this splendid sprite.
As we were waiting for the bird to appear we noted a couple of fly-over Meadow Pipits, and Skylarks seemed to be contstantly calling whilst we were there. After connecting with our target bird we decided to head back home...a real twitch this afternoon, but well worth it!

Coat, nr.Martock & Greylake RSPB - Wed 13 Oct

After the report of a Common Crane just outside Coat on Tuesday morning, I thought it would worth a quick look during my half day. I had a look around, but there was no sound of the crane, a couple of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks flew overhead. So rather than any more time I drove up to the RSPB reserve at Greylake, arriving at about 3.15pm.
I was hoping to see the Spotted Crake that was still present as I had missed it ten days ago. I waited and waited, several Teal were on the pool and a couple of Snipe were present. On a distant pylon there was Peregrine, and then I spotted three Common Cranes!! Unfortunately they were cardboard cut-outs that had been placed on the reserve to attract the reintroduced birds. Still no sign of the Spotted Crake and as it was now 4.30pm I got ready to head on home when another birder saw the crake as it moved through the reeds. Excellent! The long wait had been well worth it, and just in time too as it really was time to get on home.
UK list for 2010 now at 215 species.