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.

Local Hoopoe!

I have only ever seen one Hoopoe in the county before and that was back in May 2011.  So when news came through of one at Hedgerley Green I had to change my plans for the afternoon and take a look.

I arrived to find a few local birders leaving the site or still looking at the bird.  The finder Colin Barnes had close views of the bird feeding on a roadside green but since then it had moved to a nearby paddock and so was much more difficult to see.  So the photos below are pretty poor taken at a distance and through a farm gate.

Hoopoe - Hedgerley Green 3rd May

Spotshank

 This Spotted Redshank was found at Dorney Common by Dave Cleal.  This is a scarce bird in the county so worth a look.  Several other birders also took the trouble to see the bird.  By early evening the bird appeared to have flown.

Little Marlow Arrivals in April

 A variety of birds seen at Little Marlow and nearby during April.  Most of these were found by other local birders.

Sedge Warbler - This was actually on 31st March but close enough to April! 
In the SW corner of the lake.

Redstart - On the footpath that runs up through Emmett's fields on 4th feeding along a hedge and a manure heap.  A very scarce bird around the lake.  

Pintail - These three were at the lake for some days.

Pied Wagtail - A common enough bird but I was pleased to get reasonably close for this photo.

Sanderling - A scarce bird at the lake, this migrant bird was only present for one day.

The Tern rafts were launched on 25th April and this photo was taken the following day.  Good to see the Common Terns taking an interest so quickly.  This is a new raft provided by Gilleard's.

Gull Roost

 With high water levels at the lake for several weeks, there is very little of the sand spit exposed for the Gulls to land on.  This may have contributed to the fact that there have been very small  numbers of larger Gulls coming to roost, while there are good numbers of Common and Black-headed Gulls

This video was taken late evening on 12th March 2021

Little Marlow Floods

 January and February saw some very high rainfall and the river Thames and the lake gradually rose to cause extensive flooding.  I managed to visit on 2nd Feb and took the following photos.  

View from the Point on the west bank. 

West bank footpath looking south

West bank footpath looking north

The riverside meadows from the railway

The gate to the rather wet meadow!!

The riverside meadows from the railway

White-fronted Geese Influx

 During December there was a large influx of Russian White-fronted Geese into the UK, mainly to the more southerly and eastern areas of England. There were a few located at sites in the county including Linford, Hillesden, Marlow Low Grounds, Dorney Common and the three pictured below at Jubilee River.

These birds were found by birder Kevin Duncan at about 14:00.  I managed to get over there about 15:00 and bumped into Dave Cleal who had the same idea.  We walked along the river west from the Marsh Lane car park checking all of the large fields where Geese are often seen.  In the end we found the three individuals on the Jubilee River itself making a close approach possible.  About 20 minutes later the three of them took off and headed east possibly towards nearby Dorney Common.

White-fronted Geese - adults