Lodmoor Birding

 I had a few visits to Lodmoor during the week, all but one with my daughter Katherine.

It was rather quiet but a few nice birds were seen.

Whimbrel - This bird was one of four present on one visit.  The other three birds were feeding in the tall vegetation in the background.

Spotted Redshank - A scarce visitor to Lodmoor with one or two sightings a year.

Reed Warbler - One of many new arrivals to the reserve.

Portland Bill Birding

 A visit to the Bill, firstly a brief visit with other family members and secondly with my daughter Katherine.

Stonechat in song.

Wheatear very close to the end of the Bill

Raven - A very tame individual on the next table to us!

Razorbills - Just off the west of the Bill

Guillemot - A 1st summer individual taking flight

Bluethroat Twitch

 We were staying in Weymouth for a week with my daughter Katherine and granddaughter Jess.  It just so happened that a Red-spotted Bluethroat had been found a month earlier on 17th March at Swineham GPs near Wareham.  The bird was refound on 8th April and seen daily since that time.

We went to see the bird on a Saturday afternoon.  Apparently the narrow path on which the bird was feeding and in the morning the path was rammed with birders and photographers.  However by the time we arrived there were just a few people watching it.  We had to wait about 10 minutes before the bird dropped onto the path to feed on some mealworms.  It came within about 10 feet of where we were.

The Red-throated sub-species breeds in Northern Europe.  The bird was singing from time to time but unlikely to attract a mate!

Every so often the bird would stand still and peer up at the sky.

The bird can be seen a short distance down the path

A brief video clip of the Bluethroat

Osprey - After leaving the Osprey a quick scan of Poole Harbour
produced this Osprey carrying food.

Lesser Scaup at College Lake

The news about this bird broke late on Thursday afternoon.  That was fairly convenient as the following day was Good Friday and a lot of people managed to get over to College Lake to see this Bucks first!

The bird had been at the site for a couple of news but was initially reported as a hybrid.  On closer examination it looked to be a genuine Lesser Scaup making it my 260th county tick!.

The drake Lesser Scaup was very interested in this female Tufted Duck and was seen copulating.

Ribble Estuary Birding

 This was a morning visit with my daughter Katherine.  We started at Marine Lake and then called in at Marshside RSPB, Crossens and Banks Marsh.  There were staggering numbers of wildfowl, Geese and waders present.  Photography was not easy due to the distances.

Goosander - A 1st winter bird on Marine Lake.

Smew - A 1st winter drake seen on Marine Lake

Pintail - Large numbers of this species were seen on Marshside RSPB

Teal - 1000s of Teal were present in the area.

Marshside RSPB seen from Crossens Road. 
Thousands of Lapwing and Golden Plover were present as well as the wildfowl.

The following video shows just a few of the 50,000 Pink-footed Geese that spend the Winter on the Ribble Estuary.  The video was taken at Banks Marsh.  Sorry about the shaky video.

Little Marlow GP

This Whooper Swan was a surprise visitor to Little Marlow Lake.  It was found by Graham Smith and was present from 23rd until 28th November 2025.

Stonechat - Present in tall vegetation in the riverside meadow.

Montagu's Harrier in Bucks!

 A female Montagu's Harrier was reported in the Ivinghoe/Cheddington/Long Marston area on 25th June although it appears it had been seen over several days.  It was seen every after that but was extremely elusive and eventually is was considered that the best time and place to see the bird was early morning or in the evening on a large field between Cheddington and Long Marston.

I visited the site early on 27th June and stayed for about 7 hours and failed to see it.  I then tried again on 30th June and after a wait of almost two hours, the bird fly SW across the field and disappeared into Herts.  About eight of us were present and saw the bird.  This was a county tick for me and many other people.

The Harrier field on the Cheddington to Long Marston Road.

Montagu's Harrier - a good view of the underwing

The white rump can be seen in this photo.

More distant but showing a view of the upperwing.

Brown Hare - several were present.

Yellow Wagtail - There was a lot of breeding activity from our viewpoint with a good number breeding in this one field

Skylark - Also lots of Skylarks singing and flying around. 
Nice to get one almost in full view!