My first "proper" visit to the reservoir for a couple of weeks this afternoon and it was pretty quiet all in all. That being said, two redhead Goosander flew through low over the water heading north and were a very welcome addition to the patch year list.
A good look around the car park and Canoe Club failed to turn up anything other than a Goldcrest whilst overhead a single Skylark flew east and a small flock of around twenty Meadow Pipit were over fields behind the Canoe Club, where they had been flushed by a Sparrowhawk.
On the water there were around thirty Wigeon and eighty Canada Geese in the north-eastern corner, and despite a good search through the gathering gulls I failed to find anything out of the ordinary, though I did register my first Common Gull of the winter.
A few winter thrushes this afternoon, with seven or so Fieldfare and around twenty Redwing seen in flight.
Sutton Bingham year list 2019 now at 113 species.
After a successful morning we set off to take a look at The Fleet, walking down to Rodden Hive where there were loads of birds, mainly Wigeon but some good numbers of Teal and a few Pintail. A sub-adult Marsh Harrier caused a bit of a stir and a few Stonechat were knocking around. A Cetti's Warbler was heard singing but didn't show itself whilst a single Curlew was noted as well as a few Lapwing and a handful of Redshank.
Walking back round to the car we saw half a dozen Red-legged Partridge whilst in Langton Herring village we added Coal Tit, Nuthatch and Chiffchaff to the day list. From Langton Herring we drive round to Abbotsbury seeing both Moorhen and Sparrowhawk whilst driving along. We parked up about a kilometre east of the Swannery and 'scoped The Fleet and found a female Common Scoter.
Our final stop of the day was overlooking the Swannery where a few more species were added to the day list, which for me ended up on 82 species.
NB: After dropping everyone else off I was able to twitch a Yellow-browed Warbler that a friend had found in his allotment in my village...a bonus at the end of a brilliant day out.
A day out with friends today and a visit to Portland Bill and Ferrybridge in the morning, starting at Portland Bird Observatory where we saw a total of three Firecrest feeding in the garden. A walk down to the Bill produced three Black Redstart, and although a got a reasonably decent photo, the bird was facing away from me.
A late Wheatear was on East Cliffs with several Rock Pipit and a lone Purple Sandpiper. Out to see it was pretty quiet but a few Gannet and Mediterranean Gull were passing through with a handful of Razorbill and a couple of Guillemot. One of two distant Kittiwake went through heading west.
Leaving the island we stopped off at Ferrybridge to check out the Brent Goose flock, but unfortunately a chap with a massive camera decided he would try and get in the flock and flushed them all. Despite his poor fieldcraft we did see two Knot, a dozen Turnstone and several Dunlin and Ringed Plover. A lone Red-breasted Merganser was on the water and around five hundred Mediterranean Gull were present. A single Bar-tailed Godwit rounded off a decent morning.
Leaving Weymouth we then headed west to explore further up The Fleet.
A flying visit this afternoon turned up a real surprise in the form of a drake Garganey on West Pool.
Light was dire and the bird was fairly mobile and distant, but you can at least see what it is. Moulting out of eclipse plumage this was a pretty decent October record.
An afternoon at the Lyme Regis fossil hunted did produce a rather fine drake Eider.
Other than that, a first-winter Mediterranean Gull, seven Turnstone and several Rock Pipit were the only birds of note.
A lot of effort for little reward today. Three Snipe were flushed from the southern end where a Marsh Tit was heard calling and three Bullfinch were seen as well as my first Redwing of the winter.
Yesterday's female Stonechat was in the company of a male today (though it's possible he was present yesterday and I simply didn't see him).
Other than that, a single adult Great Black-backed Gull and fifteen Wigeon were all I could manage.
