With winds increasing and with a SW direction I thought it might be worth trying Portland Bill for a seawatch. I arrived about 8am in light rain and proceeded to the Bill. There was quite a lot of bird movement. Hundreds of passerines were flying over the Bill and many directly out to sea heading south. It was hard to ID these but the majority appeared to be Meadow Pipits. Dozens of Gannets were plunge diving and other passing. About 30 Kittiwakes passed to the west in the hour I was there. A lot of Auks were moving in both directions, as were good numbers of Cormorants and Shags. A single Arctic Skua heading west was the best bird.
Shag - Surprisingly resting just below the sea watch point at the monument. It did not seem too bothered by my presence.
Dark Clouds heading towards the Bill!
The ominous dark clouds off of the Bill were getting closer so I decided to head back to the car. Just in time as the heavens opened and very heavy rain set in for a time.
I decided to head back to Radipole Lake and try and see a few Bearded Tits before we head back home the next day. By the time I got there the sun was out!
The Bearded Tits were calling frequently and I saw perhaps twenty or so perched or in flight. Unfortunately all too brief or distant for photos. The Cetti's Warblers were in fine voice but as usual singing from thick cover.
It is always worth checking the car park at Radipole Lake for gulls. Not just interesting species but colour ringed gulls. You can usually drive quite close and photograph the ringed birds. There is often a few present. I was not disappointed and got the two photos below.
Mediterranean Gull - Green "RV70" - Ringed in France or Belgium. Details awaited.
Herring Gull - Black "773" - Apparently ringed in Portland so not a great traveller as yet.
A stop off at Ferrybridge, Weymouth this morning at high tide was interesting in terms of the numbers of Mediterranean Gulls. There were 40-50 resting on a gravel bar with another 250 or so on the water! This is the biggest flock I have ever seen. Quite a few of the Med Gulls have been colour ringed. I saw two at Lodmoor the previous day and two different birds this morning. Of the four bird, two appear to be Irish, one from Germany and one from Belguim or Holland. Details awaited.
Mediterranean Gulls - 40+ on or around the gravel bat and another 250 or so on the Fleet to the right.
Mediterranean Gull - Yellow 2C41 This was ringed in Langstone Harbour in June 2017. It spent the winter of 2017/18 in Portugal. It then returned to Langstone Harbour in Apr 2019. This is the first sighting since then..
Mediterranean Gull - White 3RA5 A bird from Belguim(see details below)
White "3RA5" was fitted with a metal ring in Antwerp, Belguim in May 2009 as a chick.
It was controlled at Radipole Lake; Weymouth in January 2011.
Three more controls in Antwerp in March 2018.
It was controlled in Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium (near Ghent) in May 2019 when it was colour ringed.
After an afternoon out with my wife and the dog in Weymouth (watching the motocross on the beach) I arrived back at the apartment and saw a message from Adam Bassett advising me of a White-rumped Sandpiper at Lodmoor; all of a 15 minute walk from where we were staying! So I collected my gear together and off I went. I soon located the birders watching the bird and got some nice views over a 15 minutes period. It then moved out of sight to the consternation of the local birders who were still arriving! I left a short while before dusk and it had not been seen again but almost certainly still on the reserve.
For a while it was feeding next to two Dunlin which gave a good comparison. I did briefly see it in flight which made the ID easier. However the well defined whitish supercillium, white underparts, streaked breast, relatively short blackish legs and long wings help to identify this species.
White-rumped Sandpiper
Mediterranean Gull - A first winter bird with colour ring Yellow "RS" but unfortunately I was not able to read the lower character/s.
We arrived in Weymouth mid-afternoon. After unloading the car I checked the sea from the apartment and found a distant Great Northern Diver and a Little Gull flying past.
Great Northern Diver - Summer plumaged but rather distant!!
I then heard news from Birdguides of a Grey Phalarope at nearby Lodmoor. It was getting late in the afternoon and with fading light I grabbed my birding gear and departed. Unfortunately I did not pick up my waterproof trousers so when the heavens opened I got soaked!! I also could not find the Phalarope.
The next morning it was still raining but not that hard so I put on my waterproof trousers and coat, collected my optics and off I went to Lodmoor again.
This time the Grey Phalarope was soon found feeding on some low vegatation. So despite the rain I managed to get a few photos.
Grey Phalarope - It had apparently present for several days but elusive at times.
A short video of the Grey Phalarope
Several other species were present including Great White and Little Egrets, a Greenshank, a Ruff, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Snipe, Marsh Harrier, plus various duck species.
A weekend at Spurn Point with my daughter Katherine produced some amazing migration with large numbers of migrants passing through. Thousands of Meadow Pipits, House Martins and Linnets flew low over the Numpties vigmiz point in an almost continuous stream. In the bushes were dozens of Reed Buntings and Tree Sparrows and many other species. Then out at sea we saw Gannets, Common Scoter, Arctic Skuas, Little Gulls, a few Manx Shearwaters and a single Velvet Scoter. As for scarcer birds we found a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Ring Ouzel. Unfortunately we did not manage to connect with the Rustic Bunting which was found just before we left for home.
The following photos only give a flavour of what we saw. The quality is not great and several photos were taken in poor light and while it was raining.
Pink-footed Geese - A flock of 29 arriving on Kilnsea wetlands.
Redshank - Over 500 roosted at Kilnsea Wetlands at high tide.
Redshank
Knot - Several were roosting at Kilnsea Wetlands.
Ruff
Wheatear - One of several seen.
Common Snipe
Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Sanderling close to the breach at high tideand in very poor light.
Arctic Skua - The only close one seen.
Ringed Plover and Dunlin - Flying past the seawatching hide.
Other birds seen at Spurn Point immediately before we got there or within a day or so after we left included Red-rumped Swallow, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Booted Warbler. An amazing place!!
My latest U3A bird watching meeting was at Lodge Hill. Here we managed to see 2-3 Wheatears, a Whinchat, 3 Stonechats, a few Yellowhammers, 2 Ravens, a Sparrowhawk and quite a few other commoner species. This Corn Bunting was obliging in that it let me move around to a position of good light without flying off. A nice bird to get these days as they are few and far between in Bucks.
Corn Bunting
One other bird that we failed to see was a bird calling from along a hedgerow to the SE of Lodge Hill. It sounded very much like a Wryneck but despite a look in the area it could not be located. Unfortunately time was rather limited. So the one that got away!
Since returning from holiday I have made a couple of visit to my local lake. The first was an evening visit where I was fortunate to find a Wood Warbler. Unfortunately the view was rather brief and there was no chance of a photograph. However the Yellow-legged Gull below was more obliging.
Yellow-legged Gull - An adult.
My second visit was a morning walk where I went around the lake. Lots of Chiffchaffs calling and a possible distant Flycatcher which I could not relocate. A Barnacle Goose was a bit of a surprise but no doubt a feral bird. It may even be the bird that spent some time here last year. Nevertheless it was a smart bird in immaculate plumage.
A particular fairly pale gull caught my eye at Little Marlow GP this morning. The immediate impression was of Yellow-legged Gull. Then two other quite similar gulls came into view and these are pictured below. The bulk of the larger gulls; Herring and Lesser Black-back were nearby but separate. I am still mulling over the ID of these birds.
As for other species three Teal were the only recent change.
Gull 1 - A juvenile Yellow-legged Gull (I think!)
Gulls 2, 1 and 3.
Gulls 2, 1 and 3. Note the white tail with blackish band on the end.
Found by Simon Davies about 10:15, news was soon put out and a steady stream of birders visited during the day to see this juvenile bird. It remained until the evening and presumably left overnight.
Avocet - A juvenile. The species is scarce visitor to Bucks.
With the first batch of Common Tern chicks ringed and now all fledged and all somewhere around the lake (with maybe a few fatalities), we now have the young from the eggs that were laid somewhat later. Today there were three youngsters on the closest raft and presumably small number on the other rafts. They should all have fledged in the next week or so.
Common Tern - A juvenile in the water close to the rafts. Still being fed by it's parents. If it swims over to the sand spit it should be safe.
Common Tern - An adult with a small Perch for one of the juveniles.
I visited the Wendover Canal along with a few members of the Bourne End U3A group. We were treated to close range views of this elegant bird. It has attracted a steady stream of birders over the past few days. It was regularly taking small items to eat but not easy to make out what they were.
The first of the juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls had been appearing in SE England in the past week or so and despite Adam Bassett reporting a few at Little Marlow GP, each time I visited they had disappeared. My luck changed on 14th when one was present when I arrived at the lake.
Yellow-legged Gull - The first juvenile.
The first juvenile on the water.
When reviewing the photographs of the first Yellow-legged Gull I noticed another that had dropped in.
The second juvenile Yellow-legged Gull
Black-headed Gull - Colour ringed bird "White AJ66" Also featured in this blog during 2015 at this link. This bird has visited this site many times since first seen in Dec 2015.
