Longham Lakes - Part II

 Continuing the saga from yesterday we scanned the

HAMPRESTON WATER MEADOWS
for the target of our desire but seeing no more than Sheep and a distant Cormorant in the left tree.

No reason to linger as there was plenty of such fare

much closer at hand.
Like minded passers-by had seen nothing of either of the 2 target birds but the search went on

but finding no mre than the remains of predated birds, this looking like a juvenile
Mute Swan

while these with a blue hue remained a mystery?

Always welcome are Gulls of any ilk (especially Ring-Billed already down the pan)

so a little time was spent with a small bunch of
COMMON GULLs

while

PAMPAS GRASS

took me back to numerous adventures in South America

Otherwise, fellow enthusiasts were finding the same result "nothing of either" so a stop at the

Water Filtration Unit
was as good a site to scan most of the outstanding areas of South Lake, this being the main water-source for both Bournemouth, Poole and beyond

but only

GREAT CRESTED GREBEs

to add to the Photo / Video library.
Had we not lingered we may not have heard the loud screaching of the
Bonus Bird of the Day
as most recognisable and easily identified

but almost impossible to photograph or video
but this effoer just in case of conjecture.

RING-NECKED PARAKEET

With good fortune continuing as we met Lorne Bisset on our way back to the car park, a man who has covered this area more than anyone else and informing me that he had only ever recorded a single individual across all of his wanders here - nice end to a day that could have been better but hey-hoe that's BIRDING for you!

Longham Lakes - Part 1

 A prompt from Dave in Weymouth was enough to stimulate my interest as this was the second of c2 Scarce / Rare birds reported from the site. Even if not seen the 20 minute drive always throws up a wealth of birdlife so bording my Trusty Steed the order was "full ahead both engines"

without forgeting the
Moth Traps

where again there was just a single
MOTTLED UMBER

+ c4
DECEMBER MOTHs

At first sight the North Lake looked to be awash with radient male

POCHARD
where were the fems?

with no surprise to find a total count of at least 5

GREAT WHITE EGRET

across the site with unusually very few

REED BUNTING

male feeding and a

female.

As ever

good numbers of

BLACK-HEADED GULL
and an eon in finding the

now reduced to c2

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER

but not a chance of finding the far more rare

Trans-Atlantic

RING-BILLED GULL
(images from the archive for reference)

Morning Has Broken - Hymn

 A bright enough

start to the day
but predictably again repeats from the Moth Traps with

just

MOTTLED UMBER
plus c3

DECEMBER MOTHs
but while they contiue to show we will continue to publish!

Our next stop provided even more joy as we engaged the RES (the second of our 2 Solar Panel operators) Foreman in conversation enlightening me to the fact that the company have agreed to sew a series of Wild Flower Meadows both inside the compounds and across this tract of land,

 (our other overgrown Bronze Age Tumuli)

already mown for the purpose

at the area known as

JIBBETS FIRS
to where Prisoners were brought from Winchester Prison to face their final hour on earth!

A little light reading if you can make it out?
Otherwise the day was dogged with disaster as each of the other sites produced very little such as a

decent gathering of

MISTLE THRUSHES
across the panels and elsewhere, a reasonably showy

WATER RAIL
at the Irrigation Pond, totally abandoned for the last 2 weeks, and

far from common visitors at the Gravel Pit a pair of

WIGEON

Footnote:- There have been reports of a couple of scarce / rare birds at Longham Lakes which, should weather allow and we infact record them, we hope to bring to your attention soon!

Autumn Leaves - Eric Clapton

 A wander around the

Main Pond 

including the

nifty little

over-spill, not exactly 

IGUAZU

kicked off a days which was never likely to be bountiful
but pleasing enough to my eye at least! Further up the lane the ditches were found to be choked by

PARROT's FEATHER
where across each year the pond is usually awash with this choking weed but not a sign of it there this year?? Further to that we found the

EMU
  striking something of a pose with a new

MONUMENT

in the next paddock further along the lane.

Again despite the chill the Moth Traps produced repeats of

CYPRESS CARPET
and

SCARCE UMBER
a single

EGYPTIAN GOOSE

on the Gravel Pit was a welcome find but that was it as all the
Waterfowl of recent days seem to have made for the exit!

A couple of

DUNNOCK
and a few

CHIFFCHAFF

feeding at the Sewerage Works hedge made for a little padding, as the calls of an overflying

CURLEW
(not this one of course)
brought back a memory of

this 'self found' leucistic individual at
Church Norton, Hampshire
all those years ago. On our reture a loan

COLLARED DOVE
at the Fencing Centre and as a finalè maybe the last vesiges of

Autumn Leaves - (originally by) French vocalist Cora Vaucaire

The falling leaves drift by my window,

the autumn leaves of red and gold.

 I see your lips, those summer kisses,

the sunburned hands I used to hold.