A Bit Of A Catch Up

As you may have noticed, I've been a bit quiet on the blog front, other than the odd post about something rare. A lot of this has been down to the fact that I have been busy with other things and also the weather in May was less than ideal, which meant I was down in the dumps. So, in affect, I couldn't be arsed. May was an appalling month bird-wise for me. I didn't see a single scarce or rare bird in Dorset all month. Some of this was down to laziness, some of it was down to sheer rotten luck. You certainly had to be in the right place at the right time during May. What little there was available to twitch, well, I just didn't bother. You could say I was off the boil. Still am in a sense, with the onset of the midsummer doldrums and dipping on a Greenish Warbler today.

Dorset's Rare Bird Of The Month

April - I'm sure a few people have their favourites, be it Chesil Cove's White-spotted Bluethroat or Lodmoor's Red-rumped Swallow, but bird, well birds actually, of the month must go to the 2 Black Storks that were found over Weymouth and were seen shortly afterwards over Dorchester. Well done to Paul Harris who found them, sadly though they were only seen by the lucky few.

May - Although a Black Stork was seen during the month, which was certainly the rarest bird of the month, being it could well have been one of the April birds, I think bird of the month has to go to the Ortolan Bunting at Longham Lakes. Not only a notable spring find, but incredulously, the second spring record for this brilliant inland sight. Well done to the finder.

My 10km square year list has been kicked into touch. To be honest, I fucking hate year listing, so that's enough of that shit for me. I do like birding though and feel I'm well overdue to find something good.

A few bits and pieces from the last month or so.

Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits on Lodmoor on 30th April.

A sleepy Whimbrel on Lodmoor on 30th April.

Little Tern at Littlesea, The Fleet on 3rd May.

Short-eared Owl at Wyke Down on 6th May.

Male Greenland Wheatear at Wyke Down on 6th May.

Female Greenland Wheatear at Wyke Down on 6th May.

Guillemot at Portland Bill on 1st June.

Razorbill at Portland Bill on 1st June.

Great White Egret at Ham Wall, Somerset on 8th June.

Another Great White Egret at Ham Wall, Somerset on 8th June.

Pochard duckling on Lodmoor on 9th June.

Caspian Tern

Yesterday, Dave Chown found a Caspian Tern at Radipole Lake. It didn't hang around there long, but luckily, it was refound by Mike Morse at West Bexington. Myself and Fred shot down there that evening, but on arrival there bird had flown off east. After just over an hour of waiting around, the bird thankfully reappeared.

Here it is with a Great Black-backed Gull. What a whopper.

On the upperwing, the contrasts in the outer wing and hint of a secondary bar shows that this is a 2nd-summer bird.

A truly stonking bird.

Happy Birthday To Me

With the Eastern Subalpine Warbler at Portland Bill showing itself, after earlier being trapped and ringed. Ricky said I would see it, being me birthday. Cheers Ricky.

1st-summer male Eastern Subalpine Warbler.

Roller

It's been a while, I know, but I haven't seen diddly squit for ages. I was getting desperate for a goodie to find or see. In the end, I was enticed out of the county to twitch a Roller in Hampshire. It was worth the effort, as they are always a stunning site. Distance and heat haze did hamper photography though.

Wood Warbler

A text from Dave Chown, alerting me to the presence of a Wood Warbler at Radipole Park, was enough to distract my attention from going to Littlesea, The Fleet. I was soon in the company of Dave, who's sharp eyes picked it up in a bush close to us.

A truly stunning creature.

And here's a few more photos of it.

Did manage to go to Littlesea in the end, but it was very quiet.

A couple of photos of common birds from Littlesea for you to enjoy.

Male Kestrel.

Male Stonechat.

Red-rumped Swallow

Highlight of the day, thanks to Daragh, was the appearance of a Red-rumped Swallow at Lodmoor.

The Red-rumped Swallow with a Swallow for a comparison.

Also on Lodmoor....

Was this drake Garganey. 

This Red Kite flew past my bedroom window today.

Like the last one that flew over my house, this was also a 2nd-calendar year bird.

On Monday, I visited Abbotsbury Swannery for a confiding Turtle Dove.

The light was pretty bad when I took these shots. Sadly this species has become an increasingly rare sight and we only have the hand of man to blame for that. For God's sake you foreign idiots, will you please stop shooting them out of the sky.

A Hideous Beast

A rather uneventful weekend for me when it comes to birds, but I have been busy doing other things, so I'll just show you a few photos that I took.

Sandwich Tern on The Fleet at Littlesea.

One of my first Whitethroats of the year at Littlesea.

Male Chaffinch at Littlesea. Sorry, liked the bird against the background on these images.

A Red Kite that flew over my house today.

The title of today's post. Now, people who know me, know that I like me ducks and geese. Egyptian Goose on the other hand, is a right munter. It even sounds horrible. Anyway, this very tame and unringed bird on Lodmoor today was a welcome 10km square year tick though.

The Siberian Chiffchaff in my garden this evening.

And here is a Common Chiffchaff that was in my garden the other day for comparison.