White Bird - It's A Beautiful Day

Given the ongoing Internet problems some morning (birding) time has had to be spent in the office getting Posts away, but on such a bright, sunny and still day this was undertaken in quick time. By 10:30 we were on our way to Blashford Lakes in Hampshire, just a 15 minute drive from here, with the prospects of a few goodies to add to the Year List. The car parks here were full, but by and large the hides were empty as I made for the

 WOODLAND HIDE

and possibly the best bird of the day? There was little, if any wait

for this little sparkler to be seen as the

 MEALY REDPOLL*

 was perched on a 'feeder' just waiting for me!

 Only one person between me and these photographs,

 who kindly conceded allowing me access to the only opening

window in this hide. As luck would have it just as this bird flew

into the trees it was replaced by a much more common

 LESSER REDPOLL

 for comparison.

 Also on the feeders were a good number of

SISKIN (with a single Lesser Redpoll)

while the trees close by seemed to be full of both species.

 A brief appearance of a

NUTHATCH

before continuing to the

On the way an 'overwintering'

 CHIFFCHAFF*

was spotted on the other side of a small lake of unknown name.

Entering the hide I was met by an excitable gentleman gesticulating
towards the open window through which this is what met the eye

GREAT WHITE EGRET*

'Ringed' on the left leg

this beauty that has been on or visiting the reserve for a number of years now.
 White Bird Link - Them Was The Days!

SONG THRUSH

WREN

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

ROBIN

and BITTERN
have all been seen elsewhere this year, but always good to come
across particularly if they allow the camera to focus.

On the other hand

TREECREEPER*

was a new bird for the year, albeit in Hampshire, which took a bit of time to find. Always in residence in the wooded area between the hides, this bird took a total of about 45 minutes to find eventually being located on 'call'. Ibsley Water, across the road from the woodland area, could have added Ruddy Duck, Merlin, Peregrine etc to the list but not there during my stay. Plenty of wildfowl included c2 Black-necked Grebe, Egyptian Geese, Goldeneye, lots of Pintail and Wigeon, all too distant to photograph, while

GOOSANDER
c2 females left and male right almost fell into the same category.

A final fly-past of
GREYLAG GEESE
put an end to the birding leaving me buzzzzzzing!

                         UK           Dorset

01/01                 73                0

02/01                 91                0

03/01                 97                0

04/01               102                0

05/01               108                7

06/01               124              51

07/01               124              78

08/01               134              94

09/01               137            107  

10/01               141            118
11/01               145            121
13/01               152            126
14/01               156            126

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	874
United States	735
Germany	98
Estonia	49
Russia	49
Canada	41
India	26
Ukraine	18
China	15
Australia	14

Baa, Baa Black Sheep - Nursery Rhyme

In reality (still trying to catch up) yesterday was almost a wash out with just a brief visit to Longham Lake to slake the addiction. Even then there was a single addition to both GB Year and Dorset Year Lists as a

 KINGFISHER* (Wiki pic)

 flashed across the lake.

Still plenty of rain about, but dodging between the heavy showers allow for some decent birding. First port of call would be to try and locate one of the smallest birds to visit our country, with this particular species being more at home during winter as this

Distribution Map shows.

On information received, this tiny creature was favouring a wooded area 150 yards from the Discovery Centre at the Knoll Beack car park, Studland, Dorset. Leaving the car it was decided to try 200 paces as a point to begin what was thought to be a difficult search, but had 3 more steps been taken there would have been a likelihood of treading on it. Great joy, but not much in the way of photographs, given the early morning light, but nonetheless the

YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER*

had been recorded.

For illustration purposes this 'bird in the hand' was caught and

'ringed' at the Portland Bird Observatory (PBO) a couple of years ago.
Onward via

 CORFE CASTLE (Wiki)

these novel little Sheep appear to be new arrivals grazing the slopes there.

We, after a good deal of trying, couldn't sort the species so we sent the photo to a man who could. The reply to my E-mail from friend John Gifford reads:- Well what is that doing down this way, should be up north on the hills. It is a HERDWICK, quite often the tups/ram are used as a sire on other breeds to increase the quality of the meat.

The young lady driving the car at the crest of the hill had the same
reservations as this huge HORSE, now free grazing Hartland Moor
along with half a dozen others, wandered across the road.

At Middlebere the almost resident

YELLOW-LEGGED GULL*

had reappeared since the Christmas break adding to the list,

but this too was fairly distant.

 You can get closer to them further afield (Spain).

On its day, the hide here is unarguably the best sight in Dorset
for Wading Birds (and others) in flight, and today was just that.

No knowing how many birds are involved but first it was the turn of
AVOCET
as an estimated 500 took to the wing, did a circuit of the creek
before landing again.

Next, again hundreds of BRENT GEESE took off from a nearby
field where they had been feeding before disappearing from view.

They were replaced by

LAPWING

which always put on a most spectacular display.

On the way to Oakers Wood these
HIGHLAND CATTLE
put on such a pose they were worthy of a shot!
On arrival and during the 40 minute stay, the bad news was no
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker or Treecreeper but

MARSH TIT*
came as something of a surprise as I have not seen them at this
site for a number of years now.

Also at the Waddock Cross Watercress Beds there was disappointment as all to be seen were a few Meadow Pipit and even fewer Pied and Grey Wagtails, with no sign of the 'hoped for' species. However, things turned more favourable as at the same type of 'food production area' at Tincleton a

GREEN SANDPIPER*

flushed immediately on arrival. Bottom image from the archive.
Things were certainly going well and with no stopping between
here and Lodmoor

BEARDED TIT*

was just as quickly found at the traditionally favoured part of the Moor.

Having travelled this far Portland Harbour was a 'must' despite the lateness of the hour and although, once again, neither Long-tailed Duck nor Eider were seen a real bonus by way of this

SANDWICH TERN*
patrolling the Portland Castle section of the harbour.

COASTGUARD RESCUE HELICOPTER
coming in to land.

A closer look at Sandwich Tern.
Finally, under the fast fading light, there was time to visit the PBO
to wish the Warden Martin Cade and Assistant Warden Joe Stockwell
Happy New Year.

'The Race' at Portland Bill

some call them 'intrepid sailors', I call them P**t's!

                         UK           Dorset

01/01                 73                0

02/01                 91                0

03/01                 97                0

04/01               102                0

05/01               108                7

06/01               124              51

07/01               124              78

08/01               134              94

09/01               137            107  

10/01               141            118 

13/01               152            126          
Reader Stats much the same as yesterday so no table.

Radar Love - Golden Earring

Saturday, and at least early on the weather was sunny and bright but as predicted didn't last for long! Under such conditions a drive through the New Forest was ideal but no time for stopping until reaching the tiny village of Lepe perched on the edge of the Solent. Once there it was only a matter of a 5 minute walk to add the

LESSER YELLOWLEGS*

to the Year List, albeit outside of Dorset.

Oh, there it is on the right!

What in my Royal Navy days was known as

HMS DRYAD (probably still is)

perched high on Portsdown Hill which is the RN Radar Training

Establishment, hence the ship's masts of the simulators.

NEW FOREST PONY

On such a glorious, warm and still day it was thought worth a look for the Goshawks, at the traditional site, although perhaps a little too early in the year for them to be undertaking their display flights. No joy, but as is often the case here

WOODLARK*

was located on song and added to the list.

Great views across the Pine strewn valley as far as

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

Back towards Parley and a stop off at Lytchett Bay where I

missed the Smew but did add

PINTAIL+

to the County Year List

and

DARTFORD WARBLER*

for the Year.

During the drive back it was decided to take another look in Poole Park, where over dozens of visits I had never seen so many people, one small outbreak of sunshine at the weekend and they're all at it! This strange Duck was the only thing of note, but remains a mystery to me as to what it is.

With the head of a Red-crested Pochard, the 'stern projection' of a
Pintail. if anyone would like to venture an opinion it would be welcome.

 A late night for me (22:00) had its benefits as hitting
the pillow a

TAWNY OWL*
got into full song adding a late day Year Tick.

                         UK           Dorset

01/01                 73                0

02/01                 91                0

03/01                 97                0

04/01               102                0

05/01               108                7

06/01               124              51

07/01               124              78

08/01               134              94

09/01               137            107  

10/01               141            118 

11/01               145            121

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	900
United States	678
Germany	77
Estonia	50
Russia	48
Canada	28
France	18
Ukraine	18
India	16
Australia	13