Wheatear - A Surprise Garden Tick

 

Wheatear - Near the top or driveway with plenty of cars passing by.

Little Grebe at Wycombe Rye

 This adult Little Grebe came rather close while we were having coffee while sat outside at The Dyke on Wycombe Rye.  The Grebe was attracted by a group of Mallard that someone was feeding.

It was good to see one there still.  I assume it has a mate somewhere near.  In the past there were much bigger number here.  In February 1994 I counted 15.  These days the site is much more disturbed and along much of the length far less aquatic plant life.

Little Grebe - adult

Dunbar Battery

 Dunbar Harbour and Battery was impressive with quite a few birds around.  A few offshore rocky islands provided good perches for Shags and Cormorants, the rocky crags near the harbour gave suitable nest sites for Kittiwakes and a few Gannets could be seen offshore.

Dunbar Harbour

Dunbar Harbour

Dunbar Battery

Rocky Islands viewed from the Battery

Rock viewed from the Battery

Shags - Good numbers were present.

Plus a Great Black-backed Gull

Eider - Presumed a female in the background and two juveniles.

Kittiwake - A juvenile presumed to have been raised in the immediate vicinity.

Farmland near Croston

 A walk around farmland close to Croston, Lancashire.  A very flat low lying area.  A good number of Yellowhammers were seen or heard, also Sedge Warbler, Swallows, Kestrels, c150 Lapwing and also several Tree Sparrows heard.

Brown Hare - Two in this field.

Swallows - Presumed part of a family party

White Coppice - Lancashire

 No sign of the Redstarts or Pied Flycatchers that breed in the area but both are easy to miss,  It is quite possible that they have finished breeding and have now headed south.

A number of the resident species were seen including Tree Creeper, Nuthatch, Stonechat and Dipper.

Stonechat - a male seen close to where several juveniles were seen in the bracken.

Dipper - Two individuals seen in different areas.

Breeding Avocets - Plus

 Another trip to the excellent Hesketh Outmarsh RSPB Reserve.  There were probably 200 Avocets present with a few fairly close family groups.  Unfortunately very windy conditions made videoing difficult.

Avocets 

Avocet - Dive bombing a Gull that wandered to close to the young.

Little Egrets - Several of these in the area.

Oystercatcher - One of a pair with young nearby.

Hesketh Bank RSPB Reserve

 This was a visit to check out Hesketh Bank and hope to see a Spotted Redshank that had been present

Spotted Redshank approaching summer plumage.  It then flew much further away

Arctic Terns - Both Arctic and Common Terns breed here.

Avocets - There probably 30 sitting  birds present.

Redshank

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.