Wyke Regis - Sun 18 Mar

As it was Mother's Day my present for Ellie was to give her a few hours for her to do what she wanted and I took Tristan out to ensure she wasn't disturbed. I had considered a visit to my folks, but having spoken to Mum earlier in the day I knew they would be out.

So instead I took Tristan down to the coast again and a visit to Wyke Regis to see if we would have more luck at the site then we did a month ago...and fortunately we did. I made straight for the small copse where the over-wintering Hume's Warbler had taken up residence. Despite spending about forty minutes searching for the bird, with half a dozen other birders, I only heard it calling from deep in the undergrowth, and knowing I could not spend all afternoon waiting for a fleeting glimpse I decided to try for other target bird, happy enough that I had at least heard the Hume's Warbler.

I walked back towards the Birdging Camp and got lucky with some smashing views of the long-staying Richard's Pipit, I had a go at some record shots with my phone, but it was rather too far away.

 

The size of the Richard's Pipit really stood out as it fed in the grass alongside a Meadow Pipit. Also in the same area as the pipits I saw three Wheatears and a Black Redstart. However, before I knew it our time was up and I had to get Tristan back home for his afternoon feed, but we had a successful afternoon out.
UK list for 2012 now at 153 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 18 Mar

An hour long visit with Tristan whilst Ellie was at church produced the first singing Chiffchaff of the spring just south of the hide. From the hide there were twenty-five Wigeon and ten Teal present, and Great Crested Grebes numbered some forty-nine birds.

Two Stock Doves flew in from the south and landed in a tree opposite the hide. A single Fieldfare was seen and at least two Meadow Pipits flew over. A pair of Long-tailed Tits were carrying nesting material and five Snipe were flushed as I walked past the southern causeway, a small flock of seven more Snipe also flew through.

There was very little happening at the northern end of the reservoir as water levels had risen sufficiently to enable the sailors and canoists to take to the water. Ten Teal were on West Pool however.

West Bexington & Abbotsbury - Sat 17 Mar

After a morning at work I settled down and watched the first of the Six Nations matches before recording the others and taking Tristan out for the afternoon, thus givign Ellie some time to herself. Setting off at 2.45pm I drove down to the coast and arrived at West Bexington around 3.30pm. I walked east towards the Coastguards Cottages in an attempt to finally connect with the Velvet Scoters that had been off the coast here for the entire winter.

After a mile of walking of muddy shingle I set up my scope and scanned the sea. It was rather overcast weather and the wind meant there was a real swell on the water. This made it difficult pinning down any birds, however, I did locate a Great Crested Grebe and a Razorbill, but no ducks. A couple of Kittiwakes passed by as did a Gannet or two.

My first Wheatear of the year was located in one of the fields behind the beach, surprisingly it was a female. The same field also held a large flock of a couple of hundred Common Gulls and two splendid summer-plumaged Mediterranean Gulls.

Returning to the car I spent twenty minutes scanning the sea and eventually located the Velvet Scoters, with three birds present. I was also able to point them out to a fellow birder who had made the trip from the Blackdowns.

Leaving West Bexington I made a brief stop at Abbotsbury. Scanning the area from the car I got on the two Scaup I had seen a couple of weeks ago, only this time they were much closer and I didn't need to walk miles on shingle to see them! There were also three Barnacle Geese grazing on the meadow (these are widely believed to be genuine wild birds). Time was against me though and Tristan reminded me that it was nearing his dinner time, so off we headed back home.

Kingston Maurward & Lodmoor RSPB - Wed 14 Mar

A three hour trip out with Tristan this afternoon saw us heading south and making a brief stop at Kingston Maurward, a mile or so east of Dorchester. After a bit of driving back and forth and a quick look online to get a grid reference I found the field I was looking for and on the far side the Cattle Egret that had been present for a few days. So with the twitch completed I took Tristan on down to Weymouth.
I had decided to take a walk around Lodmoor RSPB reserve as a few birds had been reported from the site over the last couple of days. I parked up and walked around the reserve. Pretty much the first bird I saw was a male Marsh Harrier (an unusually dark bird). Continuing my walk there was not really much else of note until I was over half way round and had reached the muddy area that is normally good for waders. Ten Black-tailed Godwits were present and a Ruff was an addition to the year list. Two Spoonbills were fast asleep (something Spoonbills seem to do a lot) in the middle of the reserve...just a week after seeing one on the Somerset Levels, another two today!
As I neared the car the Marsh Harrier did another fly past and dropped in to the reeds, presumably on some prey. As I watched the path of reeds a Bearded Tit flew up and across the reedbed before dropping out of site. I could also hear birds calling as I stood by the car, but could not locate them anywhere! To round the afternoon off a single Sand Martin flew over before banking and moving back over the reserve proper. Another lovely afternoon out with the boy!

Torr Reservoir - Sun 11 Mar

After a relaxing afternoon I kept my promise to Ellie and took Tristan out for a couple of hours so she could catch up on some much needed sleep. It was 5.00pm when we set out, but forty-five minutes later we arrived at East Cranmore and after parking the car we were viewing the reservoir by 6.00pm.

The Richardson's Canada Goose was still present and I had good views of it in a field alongside the reservoir, a Bar-headed Goose was also present with with Canada Goose flock.

But the main reason I had come to Torr Reservoir this evening was for the gull roost. Before long Julian Thomas, a fellow Somerset birder and friend of mine, pointed me in the direction of a 2nd-winter Iceland Gull. During the next hour two more Iceland Gulls (another 2nd-winter and a 1st-winter) flew in to the roost and a 2nd-winter Yellow-legged Gull was also seen.

We also saw a single Green Sandpiper on the water's edge.

At 7.00pm it was dark and time to go, Julian kindly gave Tristan and I a lift back to our car to save us a walk and then it was off home for dinner after a brilliant evening's birding.
UK list for 2012 now at 143 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 11 Mar

After dropping Ellie off at church I took Tristan along to Sutton Bingham Reservoir for an hour. We stopped on the northern causeway and I scanned West Pool. Five Wigeon and five Teal were present and a single Snipe scurried in to the undergrowth and vanished from sight.

I then drove down to the hide and had a bit of a walk. Some fifty Great Crested Grebes were on the water, several of which had paired up and were displaying to each other. There were also twenty-two Wigeon and three more Teal, with another three Teal off the Canoe Club. A lone drake Tufted Duck was the only other bird of note on the water.

As we returned to the car a Goldcrest was singing away in trees above our heads and a Siskin was calling as it flew over heading west.

Ham Wall RSPB - Sat 10 Mar

A late afternoon visit to the Somerset Levels today (I wanted to watch Wales vs Italy in the Six Nations) and Ellie, Tristan and myself made a family trip up to Ham Wall RPSB reserve. We parked at Sharpham and walked west on to the reserve proper.

The evening was filled with bird song, we could hear several Cetti's Warblers and a few Water Rails, and at least three Bitterns were booming.

We walked as far the the main viewing area before retracing our steps and returning to the car. Several fairly large flocks of Starlings passed over our heads as we walked along. A single Chiffchaff was seen feeding with Long-tailed Tits and a few Fieldfares and Redwings also passed by overhead.

Two Ravens flew south and the dwindling duck numbers still held a female Pintail amongst the commoner species.

After a good hour of walking we were back at the car and heading home for dinner after a pleasant evening out and about.