Seychelles to Kazakhstan - Sudan to Jamaica

Thinking I wouldn't be out too long today, I had even put my rain jacket on but within the hour the rain bearing clouds had dissipated, the sun was out and all was well with the world. Apart from a brief spell walking the west cliff at Portland where the wind had veered almost to the north west and became a little chilly it was an excellent day weather wise.

On the way to Radipole I once again tested the cherry plums, which are now sweet, plump and ready for picking, and noted that quite a few Warblers were in evidence Reed, Sedge, Willow and Cetti's. Not a lot else until I was about to leave and the call of a Wood Sandpiper drew my attention. It landed briefly on the island close to the visitor's center but with little there for any Wader it flew off in the direction of Lodmoor.

Wood Sandpiper (archive)

The walk along the Esplanade (to Lodmoor) produced a few Common Terns, but otherwise just this Cruise Ship of the Holland America Line named MV Westerdam. That was something I would have had to have looked up on the Internet (my binoculars not being powerful enough to pick out the full name) if my mate Roy Henderson hadn't text me knowing I would be most interested.

On the Moor I was soon joined by Daragh Croxson and Dick Morris and set of in search of something rare. Unfortunately, that was not to be but single Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard were both perch on fence posts as we watched the now depleting Common Tern colony including the remaining few juvenile birds. In addition there were also c14 Dunlin, probably as many as 3 Common Sandpiper, a good number of Lapwing, which remained uncounted, c2 summer plumage Black-tailed Godwit and what was thought to be the first Common Snipe for this end of the year?

As an aside, Dick mentioned the 'post' including Roy Wood and told us that his wife Debbie comes from Repton and by coincidence readers will see a 'Comment' on the same 'post' from James Lidster who studied at the prestigious school there.

At Ferry Bridge there were just c3

Turnstone (of note) all with quite strikingly different plumage.

Turnstone 2

Turnstone 3

He and I at his 65th birthday dinner.

On my way to the bus John 'Sooty' Stockley pull off the road for a bit of a chat, so that took care of another hour of the day, but there are few I'd rather bump into.

Portland Bill was depleat of birds by the time I arrived around noon, save for a few departing Swifts, but it's always good to drop into the Observatory for a chat (today with the Warden and bird 'ringer' Ian Dodd) and a coffee,

while on my way to catch the bus, I came across this sign stuck on the back of a van. 'Say no more'!

	1	0.05%	Sudan
	1	0.05%	Sweden
	1	0.05%	Jamaica
	1	0.05%	Czech Republic
	1	0.05%	Seychelles
	1	0.05%	Germany
	1	0.05%	Belarus
	1	0.05%	Poland

It can be seen from today's Stat Counter, that Sudan, Jamaica and today Seychelles has brought the countries tally up to 82. Welcome to you all, and please pass the Blog link to ALL of your friends no matter where they live. Thank you very much - Bagsy.

KEEP THE READERSHIP ALIVE and WORLDWIDE!

Yesterdays sensational Relict Gull is copied here once again to give credit to the lovely lady who sent it to Svetlana, her dear friend Dinara Muratova who lives in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It was taken in her home country on a Birding Tour which she was guiding recently.

and to close, I have had a few more e-mails from Svetlana Ashby who, among other things, sent this excellent photograph of a

Red-legged Kittiwake taken on a recent Kamchatka & Commanders Islands Tour by Svetlana herself.

for further information of these and other exciting bird tours, log on to:-

http://www.kazakhstanbirdtours.com/