Other shots from Radipole, Lodmoor and Portland....

Me at Portland ( excuse the hat please ). Bloody hot day it was aswell.
Some Canada geese flying in to Lodmoor...
Some so - so shots of the ( not so wild anymore ) Hooded merganser at Radipole lake, Displaying to the Tufties with its weird bubbly call.

The Little owl was showing well at the quarry near the Obs at Portland....

Highlights of the days included: Hobbies at Lodmoor, Curlew sandpipers and Cetti warblers at Radipole and meeting a very nice birder I knew off Birdforum...

Waheeeyy, another bogey beaten!!

Its taken me ages to tick this one off but I finally managed it last wednesday, Its a lovely Whinchat!!

Late update( part 2 )!

~Saturday~
Weather: Pretty sunny and warm, occasional dark clouds over head but luckily no rain.
Location: Middblebere to see whats around and Durlston to see if we could find the Common Rosefinch which had been see lately.
Outlook: Middlebere was a bit slow. A lovely party of Yellow wagtails seen flying overhead, they landed In a Field and started feeding next to the Cows, lovely birds. Inside the hide, there was not much on the lake. No waders, with only a few Shelducks, Swallows, Little Egrets and no Osprey today.

Durlston: We did not manage to see the Common rosefinch today as it had not been seen anyway. Although we managed to find two lovely Spotted flycatchers hawking from a top of a dead tree ( New yrlist! ). Common and Lesser whitethroats were around along with the more commoner Tits, Finches, Warblers. I tried seawatching but it was not very good with only small passings of Gannets and Scoter Sps ( most lickely Common ).

Birding today:) plus the dentist:( wish me luck on both!

A late update (part 1)!

I confess... Ive been a lazy sod lately and have left updating this blog to the last min, so this will have to be a quick update...

~Wednesday~
Weather: A combination of down pours, Sunny patches and strong winds.
Locations: Poor Common to look for Pied flycatchers and Blashford lake in Hants for generally anything interesting...
Outlook: Poor Common was the better bit of the day as the Sun was out and the birds were showing. Green woodpeckers were in abundance and were yaffling from every part of the forest, Bluetits, Great tits, Willow warblers and Jays were scattered around along with the occasional Goldcrest and Robin.
Blashford lakes was a bit quiet, with only small counts of Lapwing, BHG, Tufted duck and Great crested grebe on the lake. Inside the woodland hide was better with lots of Bluetit, Great tit, Greenfinch and a single Siskin, Coal tit and juv Goldfinch...

Lifers galore!!

Last wednesday I got news that a red knecked pharolope had been seen at one of my local non Dorset birding spots: keyhaven, a defo must have for me, as I had never seen a pharolope of any kind before. Not only was there a pharolope around but Cattle Egret, Curlew sandpiper and Ruff had been reported lately!!

Well naturally as a birder I have my twitching genes so I was literally twitching with anticipation and excitement at the prospect of seeing a new lifer ( Apparently this is were the term "Twitcher" derives from! ). When we arrived we followed the steady flow of Twitchers/Birders evidently heading for the pharolope, and were, upon arrival, greeted by a friendly group of birders who quickly pointed out were abouts on the water the red necked phal was...

We stayed for an hour and watched the pharolope doing its curious feeding technique on the lake, I put up my scope so my auntie could get a look at it Such a lovely bird coupled with an amazing view just = priceless. Later on on the day We also managed to see Curlew sandpipers, Ruffs, Yellow wagtails ( 4 lifers!! ) and a Cattle egret ( year tick, we followed a very nice youngish birder to it ).

We also tried Seawatching with that group of birders we met when we arrived, at the chisel beach down the road but the results were not good ( a few Com terns, Gannets ). The leader of the group who suspicously resembles Simon king, gave me a handshake and said "see you around, its nice to know there are young ones out there who appreciate nature" which was very nice :) Yets hope this great birding streak continues...