Beko - Peter Gabriel

 R.I.P. MADIBA
and surely a poignant moment to remember
the many others such as

STEVE BIKO

You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch, the wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
the Man is dead
and the eyes of the world are upon you!

As darkness fell last night we seemed to be picking up the trailing edge of the wind and rain that caused so much havoc throughout the Midlands, East Coast and the Northern parts of Great Britain. No point, thought I, of activating the traps but as bedtime approached all was calm and reasonably mild, so on they went. Not a lot of success, just a single December Moth in each of the 3 traps, but tonight with 4°C forecast maybe we'll have to call for the 'hired help' in the morning?

With reports from around the county alerting birders to the presence of at least c2 GLOSSY IBIS showing from time to time here and there, this is what I get from 'well intending' readers. Arriving with the message, "we have seen no report of Glossy Ibis on the Blog thus far, so presume you haven't seen them yet? Hope this will do until a real one shows up"! No names, no pack-drills. With little of interest on the Bird Lines and with my mate John Gifford a little 'hog-tied' for a few days, Longham Lake seemed as good a place as any to find that elusive rarity. From the start we can tell that a 'rarety' was not to be, but with the continuing build up of Wildfowl particularly there was still plenty of a 'common' nature to see.

BLACK-HEADED GULLS

were lined up on the jetty handrails like a Guard of Honour,

but looking to the next rail a

COMMON GULL 

was noted at the end of this line.

Another was perched a little closer to the camera on H Buoy.

New arrivals in the adjacent meadows were these fine looking

SHEEP

Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air
You better watch out, there may be dogs about
I've looked over Jordan and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.

SHOVELER

numbers have certainly increased since my last visit,

and looking so good, thought worthy of a series of shots.

TEAL

too are looking good and then we happened upon another

SHOVELER male

in full 'winter' plumage.

c2 EGYPTIAN GEESE were a little unexpected but

WIGEON

are now likely the most numerous Duck on the Lake.

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

Just a few of a count of 53

LAPWING

followed by a sight I never thought I'd see here.

A SEAPLANE landing??

YES!

but the Pilot was on the jetty.

One of this years brood of

MUTE SWAN.

and so to the trees. Despite yesterday's fresh breeze, so many of them still hold their leaves like this ASH, the forest tree which is suppose to be last to show a leaf and the first to 'fall' - looks like it will still be a while yet?

 BEECH 

looking similar and most resplendent, except in 

this instance most of the 'chlorphiyll' has gone

What do you get for pretending the danger's not real
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes
Now things are really what they seem
No, this is no bad dream.

Sheep (from the album Animals) - Pink Floyd

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Magic Moments - Perry Como

There are 2 points to be amended/corrected before we kick off today's Blog. Firstly, YES we missed the

  GREAT WHITE EGRET

from yesterday's Post, so how's this? and secondly, from one of our avid and most astute readers we received this:-

Hi

Please could you put your turkey out of his/her misery !  We hate to think of him (her) swinging back and forth ad-infinitum !  (Sorry).

oscillated

Move or swing back and forth in a regular rhythm.

ocellated

Having ocelli, or eyelike spots.

As can be seen the spelling was duly corrected and I will be heading back to the 2004 note book to make any corrections needed there! 
Well we're back and all the better for the enjoyable time away. Given the continuing reasonably mild weather conditions, surprisingly warmer than in the South of France, priority had to be given to the Moth Traps with all 3 being activated overnight. Still with partial cloud covered and at least one light shower of rain the Insects continue to pour into the traps. Well, if you consider c9 

 

DECEMBER MOTHs

along with a wayward

RED-LINE QUAKER 'pouring'?

One of the traps is stationed close to Janet's stable where LEE the BLACKSMITH was already busily 'shoeing' HONEY, while her rider JEN looked on. With the completion of the new 'Covered Yard' the 'Smithy' was able to work in far more favourable conditions.

Not only has a new month broken since our departure but also a fresh season, the Meteorological Winter, throwing up all sorts of prospects of the natural kind. As far as December is concerned, attention turns to the Continuing Dorset Month List with still a few birds being reported in the county that could add to this. Examples being Penduline Tit, Surf Scoter, Sandwich Tern and always a chance of Mandarin Duck at any time of year. If you are going for it, it might as well start big so this (above) was my chosen area for the first day on Dorset soil, to circumnavigate POOLE HARBOUR the second largest 'natural' harbour in the world! The nearest and most likely starting point was

on the northern shore, where the view is across to

BROWNSEA ISLAND

and more particularly Brownsea Lagoon, a strip of shallow water the depth of which is artificially controlled to attract Wading Birds, and defended by a sea-wall. The dainty AVOCET was the key bird here which was seen immediately, but at great distance, for my first time this year - a good start but more of that later!

Continuing to pan the telescope across the area, Brownsea Castle

 

 and the Ferry BARFLEUR (Poole to Cherbourge) were seen along with Red-breasted Merganser, Cormorant, Goldeneye, Brent Goose and Oystercatcher were also seen, but then came 'music to my ear'. The raucous 'call' of a

SANDWICH TERN,

which occasionally linger into the winter months, was heard and soon picked up in the 'scope, a bird not seen in December before so things were getting even better. It's not for everyone but it 'does it for me'!

The now ageing 'Jack-Up' Work Boat which plies this seaway was seen before dropping down the hill to Sandbanks sea-front, where time was taken for another search across the surface. Little more that

BRENT GOOSE

and TURNSTONE here so quickly on to the Chain-Link Ferry.

While I think it would be safe to say most drivers are 'champing at the bit' to get across the ferry, the very opposite works for me and as luck would have it things were further being held up by the 

BARFLEUR

which I had caught up with and was now leaving harbour,

delaying the ferry even further on the other side. This allowed time to abandon the car in the queue to board and make a quick search of this area before crossing the narrow Harbour Mouth.

PURPLE SANDPIPER

were on the nearby rocks, while

SHAGs seemed to be everywhere, flying past

an adult

and a juvenile.

 Having boarded safely and given the Captain permission to 'slip' the jetty and 'proceed' I turned to find this stowaway onboard.

 PIED WAGTAIL atop Navigation Light

 simply flew off as we reached the other side.

 The Crab/Lobster Potter
SOUTHERN BELLE
was on her way into port as we looked out towards

 SHELLBAY BEACH and the landing ramp to disembark.

 Next port of call was to be
BRANDS BAY,
which could be seen across the heath and through the trees,

 and the promontory known as JERRY'S POINT. This wreck has been here for as long as I can remember, but now much diminished in size. Regular readers may recall my visit here last month, when a 'rare' bird was found, an addition to the Year and Month List then, now just for December.

 SURF SCOTER

is a bulky 'Sea Duck' from the Americas with once again the image being taken from the archive for illustration. Seen distantly, it was feeding voraciously a good sign that it might just stay into the New Year and until its migratory instincts 'kick in' again?? The seaward coast on the Studland Peninsula is always a good spot for spotting 'over-wintering' Divers and Grebes, with a good number of parking areas and viewpoints, I was heading there next.

On the way there seemed to be an unusual amount of activity on the outskirts of Studland Village, thought worthy of 'poking my nose' into, with the sign on the wall making it clear that the old

MANOR HOUSE HOTEL

was about to get a bit of a spruce-up!
Along the whole stretch of coastline a single

RED-THROATED DIVER
was seen along with c2

SLAVONIAN GREBE

both additions to the year list. There were also at my count c15
Black-necked Grebes but there has been tell of quite a number
more than that this year.

In passing, it was thought of interest to show another couple of
photos from the archive of the sharply contrasting plumage change

Slavonian Grebe makes between these 'summer/breeding' shots and 'winter' seen today. Unfortunately we rarely see this stage of plumage here on the south coast.

Another FERRY crossed the harbour before I left to make an investigation down on the Goathorn Peninsula where British Petroleum have their 'nodding donkey' oil wells

Turn right at Bushy and you come onto these very narrow but picturesque lanes, where I wondered just when the leaves are going to fall from the trees - what a picture. My hope was to find a viewpoint from where the Golden Pheasants may be seen on Furzey Island, the traditional spot now being continuously plagued by human disturbance. Some of these lanes are marked PRIVATE but I searched most of them, working on the theory it is easier to get 'forgivness' than 'permission' - I was however unsuccessful in the quest!

A very brief visit to the hide at Middlebere but this time did achieve

what I was after - a closer view of the

AVOCET

this obliging bird even did a short 'fandango', always welcome,

among the other Waders including Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew,
Redshank, Grey Plover and Dunlin.

Leaving the hide this

SONG THRUSH

was on view but no sign today of the Hen Harrier or for that matter the Great White Egret of my last look here. Unfortunately, the Redwings and Fieldfares in nearby trees were not so obliging either. And so to the final stop close to the town of Wareham

OVENS HILL
has historically been my favoured spot for getting prolonged views
of one of Dorset's most captivating birds, with about an 80%
success rate the chances were surely good of seeing

DARTFORD WARBLER

It took a while and as is often the case one was 'heard' before

it was seen. In fact two separate birds made that gentle rasping

sound before this, a third, appeared from the Gorse - always a
MAGIC MOMENT.

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