It's been over 6 months now since I last left London and so at 4pm on the 1st May I set off to Dorset where I will be spending the majority of the next 3! For a Bank Holiday weekend the trip down was quite spectacular with the roads absolutely deserted (yes, even the M25) and so I arrived in Bournemouth at just after 6pm. No sooner had I arrived I set about scanning the sea outside to look for a year tick or two. It didn't take long and I soon had several adult Gannets fishing offshore alongside 4 Sandwich Terns. After an evening of unpacking I decided to get an early nights sleep ahead of an early start so off to bed at 9pm. The alarm sounded at 330am and I was out the door at not long after 4 in order to head up to Durlston Country Park for some ringing. Unsurprisingly the roads were deserted however I saw numerous foxes and even had to stop for a Sika Deer to get out the road near Stoborough. I was unsurprisingly the first person to arrive at Durlston at just gone 5 and so I decided to sit and listen to the dawn chorus for a bit whilst I waited for the others. It was of course International Dawn Chorus Day and so there was no shortage of birds on offer. Robins, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Wrens were giving their all and were soon joined by Blackcap, and Great Tits. A Redshank was a dawn chorus surprise as it could be heard flying East not far offshore. Eventually once everyone had arrived we went and set up the ringing station. Throughout the morning we caught a few birds but not as many as we had hoped for. The highlight of the session just as we were packing up was a Cracking Male Swallow with some of the Longest tail streamers any of us had seen (They measured just over 70mm long!). A Lesser Whitethroat was also good bird to see in the hand amongst the Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroats that we caught. Whilst we were ringing we had a Yellow Wagtail come in off the sea over our heads, along with plenty of Swallows, House and Sand Martins. However what was more bizarre was watching a Swift do the complete opposite. It came from inland and quite simply headed back out to sea. Obviously didn't have the right Brexit papers! We packed up at around 10 since the birds had virtually dried up and so I thought I would make the most of the day and head round to see what I could find in the rest of the park. I have to admit I thought there would be more migrants around. In the hour of searching I ended up finding Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Whitethroats, Chiffchaff, and Stonechats, but not the hoped for Whinchat or Garden Warbler. There were however plenty of Rock Pipits busily attending to nests in the area around the lighthouse which was nice to see. Above: Rock Pipit I decided to walk a little way along the south west coast path and it wasn't long until I was overlooking the colony of Guillemot that inhabits the cliffs here. The cliff and the surrounding sea were full of Guillemots. It was an incredible sight to see. Eventually after a while I picked out 12 rather Chunky and much darker Razorbills. This is the first time I have properly had a chance to look at the two species side by side. It was interesting to see Guillemots are a sort of Chocolatey colour rather than the strong black that Razorbills have and actually makes them nice and easy to separate. There were a few pristine Shags sat in and amongst the Mots and Bills while several Fulmars glided effortlessly up and down the coast and a few Gannets passed miles out to sea. Above: Shag Below: Guillemots (oh and yes some of those are standing on eggs.) Above: A slightly out of focus Fulmar (It was way too close!) Below: Assorted images of Razorbill and Guillemot. (Should be quite a nice set to see the ID differences!) Above: Distant Gannets After spending far too long watching the seabird spectacle I decided it was probably time to head off back to Bournemouth and get some shopping before the shops shut! I had completely forgotten that it was Sunday. Now onto this morning and a lie in. I decided that I would try and find a nice quiet place to go to as Bank Holidays down here can be hectic and so I drove half way to Longham Lakes and decided to walk the rest of the way, but not before adding Whimbrel to the flat list with one steaming through on it's quest West! I found my self heading out into the Stour Way at just after 830am. The entry track near the Dudsbury Girl Scouts Camp was filled with birdsong. With Goldcrests, Treecreeper, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Blackcap, and Chiffchaff all going at it. Then I heard a familiar call and as I spun round a Firecrest burst into song and flew right at me landing in the tree just above my head. XC645128 Common Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla) :: xeno-canto Above: Male Firecrest in the brief second it sat still. The Male Firecrest didn't sit still for long and quickly set off in pursuit of a female, whilst I attempted to sound record the action. After this I decided to head further along the path to the edge of the woodland. As soon as I could see the sky 2 Swifts screamed past and this was a little taste of what was to come. A Blackcap sang from the first patch of Gorse just before the steep decent down the hill to the valley... Well except it didn't, for it sounded different. The song was pure and bubbly and didn't get thrown all over the place like a Blackcaps and too my delight the Garden Warbler gave itself up and sat briefly on top long enough for me to confirm what my brain was telling me I was listening to. I then proceeded to sound record the song pleased that I had seen the bird! Listening to the recording now although Blackcap can mimic Garden Warbler you can quite easily tell the difference in the two: XC645130 Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin) :: xeno-canto Moving further on and the river valley was full of life, Reed Buntings, Reed Warblers, Cetti's Warblers, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat all sang from the vegetation either side of the Stour. Infact one tiny patch of Reeds had 6 Reed Warblers busy chasing after one another. Then the family squeaky call of a Kingfisher and a tiny Little Blue Bullet shot past me heading down river, before being followed by another in quick succession. As I got near the lakes the amount of Swifts over the nearby golf course started to increase as did the number of Swallows. After 50minutes of walking I had finally made it to the lakes and finally I could see just how many Swifts there were. I mean every inch of the sky had one in it. There must have been somewhere in the region of 4 to 500 birds. All of a sudden they started to bunch up and scream as not one but two Hobbies whizzed about in search of a meal. Presumably they were after the Hirundine that were much lower down over the reservoirs with a flock that featured good numbers of Swallow, Sand and House Martins. XC645127 Common Swift (Apus apus) :: xeno-canto Above: Hobby Below: Swifts The photo's probably don't quite do the shear amount of Swifts justice. Anyways I headed round North Lake first to see if the wind had brought anything in. However apart from unseasonable numbers of Tufted Ducks there wasn't really anything of note. Reed Warblers, Blackcaps and Cetti's Warblers sang from the lake margins however it wasn't until I got round to the cause way that I found my first Sedge Warbler singing. A Kestrel was a nice addition to the day list as it hovered over the hedgerow looking for some breakfast. I then made a quick detour out into the Hampreston meadows to see if there were any Egrets lurking with the cattle. Unfortunately I suspect the fields are still just about to dry at the moment for them. However the detour wasn't wasted as a Cuckoo started singing in the distance and the hedgerows were full of Whitethroat, Blackcaps and Reed Buntings. And so I headed back to up to the reservoirs and started my journey around the south lake. I have to admit I had forgotten that what is presumably the same Ring-necked Duck I saw back in the autumn here was still around and so when I picked up the silhouette of it in a nearby flock of Tufted Duck the thrill was cut short by a local bird who simply said 'that has been here for ages'. And so it had but it was nice to see all the same and I am glad that I decided to make the visit. It showed quite well at times as it bobbed up and down on the surf. Above: Ring-necked Duck with Tufties There is something special about seeing a Ring-necked Duck and I am not sure what it is. A Cracking bird!
Anyways I continued round the lake without adding much to the list bar yet more warblers, a chunky female Peregrine circling the lake and 2 fine drake Gadwalls. And so with the wind starting to pick up I decided to head home for lunch. Since the weather had deteriorated I decided to spend most of this afternoon sea watching from the window picking up a Gannet and a few Sandwich Terns in the process. However much more impressive was when scanning close to Boscombe pier I picked up a fine summer plumaged Great Northern Diver along with a not so smart bird and a Great Crested Grebe. A bit odd for May, but this year has been anything but normal! And so tomorrow is the start of a new adventure, the first site visit to RSPB Franchises Lodge of the year. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.... Hopefully Goshawks and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers!!!
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AuthorI have been a birder since I was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 20. ArchivesCategories |