TRANSFER FROM SOMERSET TO DORSET - WITH STOPS IN YEOVIL - DORCHESTER - WEYMOUTH
WEATHER: dull and overcast all day with some brighter spells. A very cold, light wind all day. Temp 5C felt like 0C.
We transferred from Somerset to Dorset today, having seen 82 species so far and right on track for our 120 target list. We have some excellent species on our list having seen the likes of Whooper Swan, White-fronted Goose, Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes but having dipped on Bittern, Glossy Ibis and a few other, more common, species.
We started our day well when we pulled into the country park in the centre of Yeovil, we heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming as we emegred from the car park and then we watched a few Mandarin Ducks on the pool. A Grey Wagtail was a first for the list too, seen just before we left. We took the A37 down to Dorchester and in a regular spot along the way, we found a Red Kite.
Lapwings in flight at Maiden Castle
Our first stop in Dorset was at Maiden Castle near Dorchester, a vast open area of arable fields and grassland left us exposed to the very chilly wind, we soon got cold. However the bird life all around us was prolific. Every species seemed to be be in large flocks, for instance, we saw a huge flock of Linnets perched in a large bush, then a flock of Meadow Pipits dropped down near to us and in the same field we saw a large flock of Wood Pigeons which contained a few Stock Doves.
Golden Plover in the field of beet with a few Lapwing
A little walk along the main approach track produced sightings of a dozen or so Skylarks, also a single Common Buzzard and a single Common Kestrel. As we walked back towards the car park we heard the distinctive call of the Golden Plover and suddenly the sky burst into life as a huge flock of Golden Plover and Lapwings took to the air. We soon found out what had spooked then when a large female Sparrowhawk came into view below the flocks.
When the Lapwings and Plovers eventually settled down we 'scoped them and inadvertently found one of our most wanted species, the Corn Bunting. Other species on show were: Stonechat, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail and lots of corvids, such as Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws.
We then drove into Weymouth, along the way a Peregrine Falcon flew over the main road in front of us, but alas it was only me that saw it. In Weymouth we parked near the northern entrance to RSPB Lodmoor Bird Reserve, we found our first Greenfinch as we began our walk through the reedbeds. A Chiffchaff was sighted and both Water Rail and Cetti's Warbler called without showing.
The main open pools were covered in birds, we quickly added a few more species to our growing trip list. Common Shelduck, Mediterranean and Great Black-backed Gulls and Pied Avocet were seen in the first 10 minutes whilst the rarest and most wanted bird took a while to find.
Mediterranean Gull at Lodmoor
Hundreds of Lapwings and Golden Plover took to the air and many ducks flew into the centre of the pools because yet another Sparrowhawk landed in the marsh. It was a colourful male bird and due to its presence we got superb views of the GREEN-WINGED TEAL that was our main target species at Lodmoor.
Green-winged Teal with Eurasian Teal - can you spot the difference? The main difference is that the American visitor has a vertical white stripe on its flank, whilst the Eurasian Teal as a horizontal one.
Many ducks, egrets, herons, swans, cormorants, snipe and starlings were listed as we walked the entire length of the West Track. After we had had our fill of the Teal we headed back towards the entrance, I lagged a bit behind the others and had great views of a Water Rail in a ditch.
At Radipole we walked the entire Budleighlea Loop looking for Bearded Tits without success, we listed all the usual ducks and we watched many Common Gulls on ther main lagoon with the usual bunch of local gulls, the whole visit was a little disappointing.
a Snipe trying get in with big crowd!
At 4pm we returned to Lodmoor in the hope of seeing a Glossy Ibis which had been returning to the marsh each evening to roost. We arrived at the right time and waited until dark but the Ibis did not show up, doh! We got it wrong again and we got cold into the bargain. We did add Kingfisher and Marsh Harrier to our day list.
We arrived at our Guest House at 5:15, the bird-log was called later and revealed that we had seen 15 new species for our trip list.