Weymouth Twitch

I was already in Weymouth for the week so it seemed silly not to go and try and see the Tawny Pipit that had been on Cogden Beach  (30 mins west of Weymouth) for the previous couple of days.

I arrived at about 9:15am and walked along the beach towards where the bird had been reported earlier that morning.  No other birders were in sight as I walked along the beach, so I was searching for the bird on my own.  I had gone past the likely area when another birder joined me and we carried on further still up the beach and before long we found it.  It did not us getting too close and it was difficult to follow on the ground as it merged in really well with the habitat.  I watched it for a time, took a few photos and headed back to the car park.

Also seen along the beach were a couple of Wheatear with one or two Whinchat on the scrub at the back edge of the beach.  Also in the scrub were good numbers of Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroats, plus a single Sedge Warbler.  Cetti's Warblers were singing in the reed covered lagoons.

Cogden Beach - Huge and a great diversity of plants which provided good cover for the bird.

Cogden Beach - Looking west.  Super habitat for migrant birds.

Tawny Pipit - Taken at a distance and in blustery conditions, so the photos were not the best!

Tawny Pipit

Whinchat - presumably a new arrival.

I then moved to Abbotsbury in an attempt to see the Whiskered Tern that had been present for the previous six days.  I decided to walk to the "tank teeth" along the Chesil Beach as it had been seen from there several times, including that morning.  Unfortunately it had not been seen in the two hours before I got there and not during the two hours I spent there.