Are 'Friends' Electric - Gary Numan

Back to last weekend and it was the weather which almost made it a 'writeoff' with continuous pulses of moderate to heavy rain, gloomy throughout without so much as a glimpse of the sun and wind at best in the lower reaches of gale force. Good job we can sally forth then regardless of that, but it's a rare day indeed when we don't complete our rounds of the Recording Area first. On show and 'in the frame' that day were:-

BLACK-HEADED GULL

on the mountain top and the

BELTED GALLOWAY CALF with MOTHER

 and talking of 'right time, right place we arrived just in time to witness c5

 DARTFORD WARBLER

 performing aeriel displays at the same time.

 Our first 

PRIMROSES

of the season and then a follow up on a brief encounter of a couple of days ago.

Stopping then to observer the Egyptian Geese we caught no more than a 

fleeting glimpse of a pair of

 MANDARIN

seemingly prospecting the area of the Moors River.

Today, we spotted the female Mallard (pictured) and while investigating

picked up on a white object which looked rather like a piece of paper at first glance.

This manifested itself into the supercilium (eyebrow) of the male bird

which had the female sat right alongside.

They sat content to allow a series of video clips

but in our over excitement failed to take more than the 2 stills above.

However, that was by no means the highlight of the day as a short drive

would take me to the

ROYAL OAK

public house in Bere Regis, Dorset to meet my friends 

John and sister Maggie Gifford.

Excellent fare in this establishment if ever you are close by but my arrival

was preceeded by a short stop at a (not exclusive)

 YELLOWHAMMER

 Feeding Station

 which also welcomes the odd

 BLACKBIRD

DUNNOCK

and anything else Wild that shows up!

Sunday was no less convivial as meeting at what is considered by many to be

Dorset's Quaintest Village

 and more particularly

The Hambro Arms

to meet like minded company.

Paul and Annie Harris, Dave Foot, Mark, Helen and son Ralph Forster

plus Phil and Carol Sterling.

 Table for 9 garçon, merci

“bon appétit”

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Harbour Lights - The Platters (Part II)

Harbour Lights (Link) 
Worrying to think that this (probably the most favoured version, 
by The Platters) can be clearly remembered
as peaking on the Billboard Chart of 1960 at number 8!

Continuing through Upton Country Park

and following the northern rim of

Poole Harbour

View Through the Trees

We encountered a number of

LITTLE EGRET
(with Wigeon lower)

before happening on one of our most hoped for birds,

the diminutive (female)

SMEW

More than likely the returning bird seen here throughout last winter.

Looks like
Mr Mole

may have been disturbed at his diggings?
A very close cousin to the Smew (Sawbill Ducks)

this fine male

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER

was also viewed at

Very Close Quarters.

 

Next,

 

and even closer

a further addition to the

Year List

SPOTTED REDSHANK

Then something of a close-by detour to a place never visited before

where it was hoped 2 semi-resident
YANKS
might be found.

Only a very tiny patch, but something of a trial to find the birds,

first of which was a
GREEN-WINGED TEAL
which was viewed for no more than a minute before a

MARSH HARRIER

 buzzed the adjacent reed bed, putting what few birds there were to flight.
Having more or less given up on the second, mainly due to the prevailing situation,

we headed towards the Strange Rover but a last look found the

LESSER YELLOWLEGS
miles away at the far end of the field.

c2 images were taken, but amounted to no more than c2 blurred grey dots,
so once again we reached into the archive to bring any Readers who don't know,
 an idea of what one looks like.

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Harbour Lights - Francis Langford (Part I)

Having survived the meteorological Winter,
without too many scars, today we welcome the
MET SPRING!
Harbour Lights (Link) 

 Written by Hugh Williams (aka Will Grosz) with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy

it was firstly recorded in 1937 (The Golden Age of Radio)

by Francis Langford

With a wealth of Bird Life in and around the vast expanse of

Poole Harbour

(the second largest natural harbour in the World, after Sydney, Australia)

since the beginning of the year, it had been something far more than an oversight

that we hadn't paid our Annual Homage by now.

After the Snowdrops came the

CROCUS
and we were on our way.

HOLES BAY
This day was to be spent concentrating on the more northern shore

where immediately huge numbers of Waterfowl and Waders were in evidence.

First to hit the Year List was that 'beauty of a duck' the

PINTAIL
followed by 2 Species as yet not recorded in our home County

BLACK-TAILED GODWIT and CURLEW

CURLEW

CURLEW

For no other reason that it was at 'point blank' range this

CORMORANT
fell to the lens

 followed by short video clips

and a couple of stills

of much closer

BLACK-TAILED GODWIT

which is where the rest of our morning would be focused, and

 next came not the 'scarcest' of birds

 but certainly the most delightful

as a group of some 200+

AVOCET

fed, preened and slept in the shallows.

Another First for the Year.

That was by no means the end of it, as there is more to come,

but with the Old Enemy (time) pressing the rest must be held over

until our next Post.
This months 'header image', one of what are colloquially known as Darwin Finches,
 has not been selected for it photographic quality, but more for their bizarre 
activities (one of few birds to use a 'tool') and singular distribution in the world.
Further Reading Link
Annual Bird Totals at the end of February stood at
Great Britain = 154        Dorset = 145        Recording Area = 84 

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