In The Country - Cliff Richard & the Shadows

As far as birds go today has been in sharp contrast to yesterday's 2 rarities, but nonetheless enjoyable. The weather did remain the same with a day of overcast sky, little or no wind and still that mild feel despite the lateness of the month.

It was a visit to Hampshire and to the splendid

which were formally gravel pits now turned over to nature and seemingly very well managed.

Likely due to the unseasonable weather, many of the birds that gather here at this time of year such as Brambling, Redpoll etc seem not to have arrived yet, but as if in contradiction there were a good number of Redwing and Fieldfare. There was also plenty of interesting Fungi, but as usual I am unable to put a name to them.

There were suppose to be a few rare or at least uncommon birds in the area, such as Great White Egret, Goosander and Bewick's Swan but could find none of these, but was content to see such beauties as Blackbird,

Robin,

Great Tit,

Chaffinch and

Greenfinch.

A couple more Fungi were found as I went a little further into the New Forest

where there was another 'feeding station' attracting a good number of birds including,

more Chaffinches,

Blue Tit, with the individual on the left looking extremely pale!

Marsh Tit were also in evidence and additionally Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Jay were also seen. Thanks for tuning in!

It Don't Get Much Better Than This

Country number 159 joins the readership today by way of the tiny and extremely beautiful enclave of The Principality of Andorra, another country I have been privileged to visit. Welcome to all you lovely people in the Pyrenees and hope you will pass the Blog Link on to your friends and families. Thank You!

Still in hot pursuit of the 4 (yes 4 not the advertised 5 as Ring-billed Gull is already on the list) potential additions to the Doset November List, I once again hopped on the X53 heading for Poole. From there the service takes me to Christchurch with just a short taxi ride to complete the journey to Stanpit Marsh.

On my last visit in November (for the same reason) the first species noted was Curlew, which was the case today, but it looked like a lot longer wait this time for the target bird. Calling in at the Visitor's Centre to glean information, I was met by the Duty Warden who was almost at pains to relieve me of my travel bag and tell me that the Glossy Ibis had been seen just around the corner moments ago. Now where have I heard that before?

All that was found were the horses that it was said to be feeding close to!

There was the odd fly-over Black-tailed Godwit and of course the ever present Little Egrets, but I needed an update. One arrived right on cue by way of a fellow 'birder' who had seen it in flight heading towards

the Christchurch Priory Marsh, but with no idea as to where it might have landed.

It's a fair old trudge round there, but well worth it when you find what you're looking for feeding the Inner Estuary but at great distance. Nonetheless, it had been seen and just as well as it took to the wing heading back from whence I had come.

Over the trees, and somewhere close to the Visitor;s Centre, it folded wings and plummeted to earth but at least I had some direction. It was a full 20 minute search before it appeared from a ditch close by me allowing

Glossy Ibis to be added to the December List.

It had obviously found a rich food source here

as it was feeding voraciously.

Allowing fairly close viewing, I was well happy with the result

and almost managed to photograph it alongside its close cousin a Little Egret on the ground, but had to settle for this.

It's a very lucky man who enjoys a 'OPEN' invitation to visit friends, whether they are present or not, and being so close to Parley Court knew I would find a warm welcome with the Dampney's. Janet was soon over to pick me up, drive me to their house, top me up with Chocolate Brownie and Coffee before suggesting I take the Freelander and go 'birding' as she was busy. Well, would you refuse?

Crossbill, an infrequently seen species was the idea as I drove off to a site in the New Forest which has been historically reliable for me. I had reached the furthest point I was likely to drive when I received a text from my mate Bomber telling me of a

Blue-winged Teal at Longham Lake no more than 3 miles from Parley.

I could not believe the words, or my luck should I get to see it, as this would be a 'tick' in every box.

Thus far I had only seen this tiny Duck on its home territory of the USA so this was a great argument to 'put my foot down.

The instructions from Paul were the North East corner of the lake, and on another day parking may have been a problem, but Hugh has a 'permit to park' so no problem there either. Through the kissing gate and up the bund, I wasn't exactly sure which would be the best route, but seemed like the 2 'birders' up ahead did so I followed them.

Within a couple of hundred yards they, the 'birders' that is, seemed to have located it and all I needed to do was catch them up and request a look through their telescope, which I did. The rest is history, and I intend to spend the rest of the evening 'ticking' the appropriate boxes, that is until Janet rings the dinner gong - Pheewww!

We have received this fantastic photograph © Bowie Edwards, from an undisclosed Dorset location, complete with evidence that Otters have this year bred in the county.

Time and detail didn't allow me to post the delightful encounter I had yesterday with Marta Nimmo. Of Spanish ancestry she has lived in Weymouth for 18 years and has a passion for photography. We spent a little time chatting at Greenhill before she requested to snap me for inclusion on her daily journal, the link for which is below. This generated dozens of comments from her friends and other readers which are both amusing and complimentary to me - please take a look, log on and visit 'comments' at bottom of the page.

Remember, you win a lady through her 'ears', you win a man through his 'ego'.

http://www.blipfoto.com/grasshopper6

Everythings Coming Up Roses - Black

Rosy Starling was high on the agenda today, and if the weather was anything to go by 'everything' would be coming up Rosy! Strange to think then that this time (same date) last year we were up to the gunwales in snow, and here are a few photos from the Blog page for that date. To see the full picture simply enter 2 December 2010 in the search engine and hit return.

Weymouth Sea Front

Radipole Lake Visitor's Centre

Radipole Lake

Melcombe Regis Cemetery

By comparison, this Oak Tree still holds on to most of its leafs even though they are brown, while in the cemetery the place was alive with bird song, mainly Blackbirds but also Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Wren and Goldcrest to name but a few.

At Radipole low mist hung over the reed beds but the rapidly rising sun in a clear blue sky would soon put paid to that, while bird-wise there was nothing unusual unless you count an overflying Peregrine, 9 Black-tailed Godwit, 47 Common Snipe and my first 'frost', this end of the year, on cars parked close by.

On the other hand there was 'towering cumulus cloud' stretching the full length of our section of the English Channel not looking at all good,

again in sharp contrast to Weymouth Bay

where the sun and lack of any wind made conditions feel warm!

Despite spending about 2 and a half hours on Lodmoor, there was no sign of the 'Starling' but there were plenty of common species to sort through including noticeable build up in numbers of Lapwing and Thrushes, mostly Blackbirds. Greenfinch were still capitalising on Blackberries still remaining, as

a Kingfisher flashed by, perching on a distant bush.

The Shelduck has landed!

2 or 3 Song Thrush

along with the afore mentioned good number of Blackbirds

plus a couple of Redwing were also making

the most of the abundance of other berries.

A small party of 9 Dunlin were feeding on the 'flats' along the western edge making a total of 23 including others seen earlier,

and in addition a few Shoveler,

Magpie

Lapwing

Gadwall

Dunnock

and Little Egret.

These Snow Geese had just flown in from the Canadian Tundra (I wish) looking every bit like feral farmyard birds of no known origin.

There were, as usual, a few Grey Heron while it was noticed that

numbers of Common Snipe had risen too. There were 10 feeding in this pool alone at one point. Mid-morning the sky clouded over and with no sun and just a slight increase in wind speed there was quite a noticeable drop in temperature.

Those high clouds were still chugging up Channel as I left the Moor to take a quick look at

this medium size 'bulk carrier' which had just taken fuel from a barge in Weymouth Bay.

Finally, I'd like to thank SimonK for his correction to the Post of 29/11/2011 where I published the river flowing through Wareham as the Stour. It is, as he pointed out, the Frome and the appropriate amendment has been made.

Thanks again Simon.