Sutton Bingham - Sun 25 Aug

Another morning visit to Sutton Bingham today and again all the action (what little there was) was at the southern end of the reservoir. The highlight was a Green Sandpiper that flew south calling, but with nowhere to feed due to the continued high water levels the bird simply kept going!
A Raven also flew over, whilst the remaining interest was found in common birds flocking together in a large flock moving through the trees feeding. This flock seemed to contain loads of Chiffchaffs along with a few Willow Warblers and four species of tit. A Nuthatch and Treecreeper were heard, as was a Bullfinch.
There wasn't anything of note at all from the northern end of the reservoir.

Sutton Bingham - Sat 24 Aug

A quick visit today and it didn't really produce anything different from yesterday. The female Tufted Duck was again seen at the southern end, where up to five Ravens were seen (one or two pairs and a single bird). There were lots of hirundines feeding over the water, including a few Sand Martins. The only other interest came in the form of two Reed Buntings near the Canoe Club and a couple of Little Egrets seen in flight off the northern causeway.

Sutton Bingham - Fri 23 Aug

I spent about ninety minutes this afternoon at the reservoir, concentrating on the southern end of the site. A couple of Raven were seen sat on the top of one of the pylons an piqued my interest. However, it was pretty much routine fair for the rest of the day, with the exception of a couple of juvenile-type Mandarin and a female Tufted Duck!
As I continued around the bottom end of the reservoir I came across a large flock of feeding birds consisting of tits and warblers, with some thirty or so birds flitting through the trees and feasting on insects...but try as I might I couldn't find any scarce migrants among the common species.
A Kingfisher was heard a couple of times but failed to show itself, and a Little Egret was on the shore opposite the Sailing Club.

Arne RSPB & Studland - Thu 22 Aug

A family day today, and as we had arranged to meet "The In-Laws" at Studland in the afternoon we spent the morning at Arne RSPB Reserve. A walk around Arne was not overly productive on the bird front, a small number of Sandwich Terns and Common Terns off Shipstal Point. A walk around Combe Heath was slightly more interesting with at least three Spotted Flycatchers feeding with a couple of Treecreepers and a smart looking Willow Warbler contrasting nicely with a grotty Chiffchaff! On the heath proper a Dartford Warbler was heard calling but failed to show itself and a family of Stonechats was being rather vocal. There were also several Graylings on the wing.
Leaving Arne we drove round to Studland and met up with the rest of the family for a chilled out afternoon on the beach...not really my thing at all, but I did see a Clouded Yellow fly past and at least a dozen Mediterranean Gulls flew south. Interestingly there seemed to be a fairly constant passage, albeit small numbers, of Woodpigeons heading north for the three hours we were on the beach. Despite the close proximity of the Ring-necked Parakeet site, I felt I couldn't really vanish for a while to hunt them out!

Porthgwarra - Sun 18 Aug

I had planned to partake in a pelagic trip from Penzance this morning with four friends, but a call from the Skipper of the boat on Friday morning put pay to that due to a forecast 3 metre swell. So not to be put off we still main the trip down to Cornwall. We arrived at Porthgwarra before 9.00am and started our sea watching vigil soon afterwards...and there we stayed until 2.00pm!
As was to be expected given the weather conditions it was a fairly slow day (with the exception of a constant stream of Gannets and Manx Shearwaters). That being said during the five hours I did see singles of Balearic Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, and Great Skua (that had a bit of fun harassing a juvenile Herring Gull for a few minutes). I was also lucky enough to pick out three Storm Petrels, though trying to get anyone else on to them proved an impossible task. More routine fair was provided by a few Kittiwakes and a single Mediterranean Gull.
There was little to see on the land itself other than a few Rock Pipits, Meadow Pipits and Linnets, but we did get lucky when a pair of Choughs decided to spend a bit of time on the rocks near our sea watching spot.
We were also treated to a host of butterfly activity, with around ten species seen. I must have seen at least seven Clouded Yellows and there were also lots of Wall Browns, Graylings and Common Blues. A single Painted Lady was also seen as well as many of the commoner species.
A brief stop on the way home at the Hayle Estuary amounted to nothing as the tide was in so we headed straight back home after an enjoyable day out.

Brownsea Island - Mon 12 Aug

I took a trip down to Brownsea Island today and had a wonderful time with the family. It was also pretty good for wildlife, especially on the butterfly front with loads on the wing. The highlight was without a doubt three sightings of Clouded Yellows, one on the northern beach and two together in the garden of the café (which also sold very nice ice cream!). Other butterflies seen today included Gatekeeper, Holly Blue and Speckled Wood.
Walking through the trees we were lucky enough to see two Red Squirrels.
On the bird front a visit to the DWT reserve enabled us access to the hides to scan the lagoon. A good number of waders were present including five Spotted Redshank:

 

A Greenshank, seven Avocet, a Common Sandpiper, a couple of Turnstone and large numbers of Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit:

There were still loads of Common Terns and Sandwich Terns present and at least half a dozen Mediterranean Gulls were seen, mostly adults but some younger birds.
There were few woodland species noted, but a juvenile Green Woodpecker kept us entertained whilst we ate our picnic lunch.
After a wonderful time on the island I made a brief stop at Studland on the way home, but failed to see any Ring-necked Parakeets...guess I'll need to head this way again then!

Ham Wall RSPB - Sun 11 Aug

A fairly quick visit this afternoon to Ham Wall and I was greeted by a Hobby over the car park as I arrived. Straight to the second viewing platform (with a pause en route to look at a Marsh Harrier) and a scan of the area. Around twenty Black-tailed Godwits were present, though most of these were seen just before I got to the platform as they roosted amongst Black-headed Gulls.
From the platform proper I saw a very brief Wood Sandpiper and a couple of Green Sandpipers. A single Snipe also gave itself up and that pretty much was all I had time to look at as I needed to get back home before it got too late!