Dorset birding [Archive]

scary-canary

Thursday 2nd November 2006, 21:43

MSA

Thursday 2nd November 2006, 21:59

Anyone interested in keeping a regular Dorset thread going?
If so I'd like to start by asking why there are never any decent birds on bournemouth beach. (please don't s******)
My regular lunchtime walks produce black-headed gulls and that's about it on the beach and sea. I did once see dartford warbler on the cliff below the Russell cotes museum amd this week there was a clouded yellow on the zigzag down to the beach, but never any diver, grebes, other gulls etc. Anyone know why?
Chris

I didn't type the asterisks, the forum just bleeped out the harmless word because it contained an obviously offenxive one as part of its normal spelling. Wierd huh?

Have you been pigeon watching Mr Canary? (Woodpigeons that is). Personally I saw about 40,000 this morning between 7.15 and 8.45 over home (Wick) and Christchurch Harbour, morning total was a massive 81,000! Should be a similar movement tomorrow, if you're interested, at a guess you might like to go to work early and stop at Sea View or a similar viewpoint.

scary-canary

Thursday 2nd November 2006, 22:27

Have you been pigeon watching Mr Canary? (Woodpigeons that is). Personally I saw about 40,000 this morning between 7.15 and 8.45 over home (Wick) and Christchurch Harbour, morning total was a massive 81,000! Should be a similar movement tomorrow, if you're interested, at a guess you might like to go to work early and stop at Sea View or a similar viewpoint.
Is the movement over by lunchtime? Can't make it to the coast from wimborne before work.

MSA

Thursday 2nd November 2006, 23:09

Yes, today it went up to about 10 I guess. The movement's not really coastal beyond Christchurch - they seem to be gathering into large groups over Highcliffe, then heading in a line from mid-Christchurch Harbour to North Poole, and may even be going over Wimborne for all I know! Sea View is at the western end of Parkstone and I guessed you might go that way to work?

Bournemouth Beach used to be good for divers (between the piers) and GCGrebe (more towards Southbourne) but not much cop in the last 3 or 4 winters. There are still Red-necked Grebe regularly off Branksome from the library or the lower car park on the bend at the foot of the chine, though.

scary-canary

Friday 3rd November 2006, 15:17

Walked along clifftop from bmth pier to Southbourne today. 6 Oystercatcher on beach, red admirals and one clouded yellow.

scary-canary

Monday 6th November 2006, 14:36

Walked to boscombe today from Bournemouth pier. Flat calm. 2 oystercatcher and a few gulls. I clouded yellow. several red admirals

10+ long tailed tits in Lower gardens.
Hope to go to Hatch Pond tomorrow to look for the bittern. Anyone seen the otter there?
Chris

scary-canary

Friday 24th November 2006, 22:23

scary-canary

Monday 15th January 2007, 20:48

Still trying to keep this thread afloat...
had a tawny owl in the garden calling loudly last night in Colehill, Wimborne.
Also saw five med gulls in Radipole car park on Thursday. Attached picture is of three of the birds

scary-canary

Monday 15th January 2007, 21:04

Larry Wheatland

Monday 15th January 2007, 21:13

I know it's not exactly Dorset Scary , but how did you get on in Sweden ?

scary-canary

Monday 15th January 2007, 21:31

I know it's not exactly Dorset Scary , but how did you get on in Sweden ?
Sadly didn't go in the end. After weeks of planning my waster student brother let me down at the very last minute and I couldn't afford the trip on my own. Looking to go later in the year or next year with more daylight - and not with my brother. The med gulls and the barnacle goose were the highlights of a consolation trip to Portland.
have booked to go to Cape May in April, with the wife and kids - hope they don't let me down!
Still thanks to everyone who helped me plan for the trip that never was. At least I knew where I would have gone!!
Chris

Buzzard1905

Wednesday 17th January 2007, 21:28

great! just spotted this dorset thread!i regulary jump on a train to radipole lake as it only real easy place for me to get to!is the bittern still at hatch pond? ive only been over to look once and didnt see it!

MSA

Wednesday 17th January 2007, 22:18

Frampton 25

Wednesday 17th January 2007, 23:06

Still no birds in my Colehill, Wimborne garden. Anyone else suffering from this lack of birds? I'm guessing that th chaffinches and greenfinches have succumbd to whatever the virus was, as the blue tits and great tits still pass through, but they don't want the food. maybe still to warm and too much food still available naturally. Local fox seen at 10am crossing middlehill road yesterday

Still very few birds in my edge of Blandford garden either, only one or two Green and Chaffinches, the others aren't taking much food either. The only good news is the resident 30 or so House Sparrows which seem to have experienced an excellent breeding season last summer.

The only birds to get really excited about are the pair of Ravens which regularly fly over.

Larry Wheatland

Thursday 18th January 2007, 14:40

Looks like I'll be doing some birding in the Poole area on Saturday. I'll have to scan for BFers !

bartooon

Thursday 18th January 2007, 15:58

I used to take lunchtime walks along Bournemouth front when I worked down there. Like you, I never saw much. Movements of swifts and hirundines in Spring can sometimes be ok and I once saw a distant, but unidentifiable raptor coming in off the sea. Other than that, I've regularly seen wheatears along the beach huts, both in Spring and Autumn.

colonelboris

Saturday 20th January 2007, 20:01

Aha, perhaps some of you fine lot could help here...
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=781868#post781868

scary-canary

Saturday 20th January 2007, 20:12

Spent an hour getting wet today and not seeing the bittern at hatch Pond, poole. Lots of gadwall and teal and a few gc grebes there but nothing else. Wonder where exactly people are seeing the bittern? There was a heron doing its best to skulk in the reeds. Also has anyone else seen the magpie there that looks as if it is blind in one eye? very ugly creature.

Buzzard1905

Saturday 20th January 2007, 21:30

was over hatch pond aswell this morning for two hours and did'nt see the bittern although i did'nt get wet it was quite sunny and pleasant.did see a great black backed gull which was new for me.well all birds ae still new to me as ive only got in to bird watching in the past couple of years.saw a commorant aswell.off to radipole in the morning to hopefully identify all the ducks and other waders.find it frustrating when i cant identify them but guess its a case off keep learning and remembering.

Buzzard1905

Sunday 21st January 2007, 21:50

Frampton 25

Sunday 21st January 2007, 22:56

went to radipole lake to day and saw the ring billed gull and a peregrine falcon(first for me and was brilliant)trying to catch a duck!full list i saw was,commorant,lapwing,grey heron,bearded tit,tufted ducks,barnacle goose,coot,moorhen,mallards,shelduck,teal,common buzzard,little egret,peregrine falcon,ring billed gull(great views),gadwall,shoveler,

Also went to Radipole today, saw pretty much the same, except for the Peregrine. Also fourteen Grey Herons from North Hide, where we had cracking views of a Kingfisher. Ring Billed Gull showed really well early afternoon, no Bittern though. Went to Lodmoor to look for the Scaup, no sign of those either.

Buzzard1905

Monday 22nd January 2007, 19:14

saw the fourteen grey herons aswell was eleven but a few more flew in when i was there.also saw the kingfisher to left of north hide on the back fence but could'nt get clear view as my binoculars are not powerful enough!a great day hopeing to see the bittern over hatch pond this weekend!

colonelboris

Tuesday 23rd January 2007, 20:58

scary-canary

Wednesday 24th January 2007, 21:08

Almost nothing at Lodmoor today. BHGs, two hering gulls, a couple of teal and shelduck.
Radipole was quite quiet, too. Didn't see the bittern or med gulls. However, I'm fairly sure I saw the ring-billed gull in the car park. Bright yellow legs, almost clean white head, black band on the plain yellow bill and a pale eye. Didn't get time to check the edge of the wings to see if there was a narrow white band as someone decided to drive at the gulls and they all cleared off, but the gull in question didn't land again. I'm not 100% sure as there's no mention of the bird in the book in the visitor's centre for today or yesterday. Any comments?
Don't think that because it wasn't in the book it wasn't there. In my experience very few things ever make it to the book as the good people in the shop are busy selling food, binoculars and other stuff. it's a great little shop and very friendly, so the best way to find out what is about is to speak to the people there rather than rely on the book or board.
Sound like you probably did see the ring bill - did it look mean and disdainful as if it would like to rip your eyes out? The common gulls always to me seem softer and cuddlier, but ring billed are mean. And the bill is yellow, not dirty grey - just like you report.
As for driving at the gulls - there are some prats in Dorset aren't there, they do it at Baiter, Poole, too - walk through the brent geese and flush them all away, usually with a yappy terrier dog in tow.

colonelboris

Wednesday 24th January 2007, 22:03

Ooh, sounds interesting. The main feature that caught my eye was the bright yellow legs, but then I've been told that doesn't necessarily mean RBG. The mean look was there - I just thought I'd check before making a backside of myself...
Cheers!

Buzzard1905

Friday 26th January 2007, 22:00

just seen on www.dorsetbirdclub.org.uk that 2 bitterns were spotted at hatch pond today!!! still have'nt seen one yet so two can only be good news

Nina P

Saturday 27th January 2007, 19:21

Have I come to this thread too late?
Scary, you can't live very far from me, have you ever been over to Whitesheet? That is a really great birding place to go, wood larks, yellowhammers, linnets, dartford warblers, buzzards, curlew, lapwing, golden plovers, Nightjars, even had the Montys one year! The lesser woodpecker, greater woodpecker and the regular greeny not to mention chiffchaffs and other normal birds! I love trying to get over there as the birding is really something towards the end of April the dartfords are displaying.

You go over the area below russell coates you must look out for the european green lizard, there is a large breeding colony there. very interesting as there are several different snakes to be seen if there is enough peace and quiet!

Hengistbury head has been one of my best birding spots, get over the head around the end of April and watch the hirundines come in, there you have Swallow, Housemartin, Sandmartin and swift in one day! not to mention the kestrels, sparrowhawks, green woodpeckers, stone chats, and if you walk to the start of the beach huts there is a pool where there is a notice saying this is an SSSI and there I have seen Whimbrel, Godwits, Little Egrets, herons, marsh warblers, red shanks, greenshanks, curlew, just to mention a few, I usually go with a friend as I am disabled, and my husband doesn't like me travelling out alone.

Sadly Bournemouth beach is less likely to have much birding because of the ignorant ones! The jet skiers disturb the birding on the other side of the run, but I have seen in the harbour many different birds, like knot, dunlin, kingfisher and more from the mmudeford side of the harbour, until the baiters decide to walk straight at the waders and drive them from view!, This they do this especially if you are looking through a scope, they think I want to see them!! If you are interested in joining our little group, send me a PM.

Buzzard1905

Sunday 28th January 2007, 21:27

went to radipole yesterday where a sparrowhawk.2 bearded tits and a long tailed tit were the highlights for me!also popped down to lodmoor and saw a kinfisher.Today i popped down to hatch pond to try and catch the bittern but still no luck.Did see 2 great crested grebes which ive never seen before,also four commorants showing really well

Frampton 25

Monday 29th January 2007, 08:41

I led a field trip for Wiltshire Ornithological Society yesterday (Sunday) in the Weymouth and Portland area. A rather unwieldly 26 turned up, but in spite of that I think they had a good day. We had two good flight views of a Bittern at Radipole, with Cettis Warbler and Bearded Tit, as well as all the usual birds.

There were two Great-northern Divers from Ferrybridge, with at least one more, plus the Velvet Scoter in Portland Harbour. A Black Redstart showed really well at Portland Castle, as did the Purple Sandpipers at Portland Bill. There were huge numbers of Auks off the Bill, also Gannets and Kittiwakes. Thankfully there weren't too many oiled birds, but there was an oiled Great-northern Diver in Weymoth Bay later on.

We ended the day at Castle Cove where the Yellow-browed Warbler showed well, with a male Blackcap there as well. A final look over Portland Harbour found us 17 Mediterranean Gulls and a Slavonian Grebe. We had 77 species for the day, I think they went home happy.

scary-canary

Tuesday 30th January 2007, 19:53

We had 77 species for the day, I think they went home happy.
Sounds like a great day.

On Saturday I walked round Baiter, Poole and saw nothing besides a few pied wagtails. The kite fliers and surfers had scared away the brent flock - only three left on the field.

Sunday a walk round Christchurch found the peregrine on its favoured gargoyle at the priory in the afternoon and a grey wagtail on the stream behind the priory. The peregrine barely moved in 90 minutes!

scary-canary

Tuesday 30th January 2007, 20:09

Also one dead oiled guillemot on Bournemouth beach today and great crested grebe offshore.

scary-canary

Wednesday 31st January 2007, 20:19

A flock of at least ten yellowhammers near Badbury rings today, plus dartford warblers showing well at Holt Heath and four buzzards over there, but no stonechats. i reckon the have deserted the heath - at least the bit I watch.

scary-canary

Wednesday 31st January 2007, 20:20

Nina P

Saturday 3rd February 2007, 20:03

Hi Nina. i'm in the process of replying to you - just haven't found time to write a proper reply yet.
Not to worry, I had a different type of day today, decided to go to Kingston Lacey House to see the snowdrops there, with my mother and my good friends Trish and Keith, it was heavy going on the old hand propelled chariot, and people were very helpful as some of the terrain is heavy going with all the pea gravel, and some of the paths were too narrow at one end, I ended up with scraped knuckles as there was one point that has standind stones guarding the exit!! Brilliant planning in that respect, I now have scratched hand holds around the wheels! I really don't appreciate things like that! I suppose I shouldn't grumble as I think I was the one allowed in without charge!
Highlights of today were, Ordinary worker bees, at least five of them pollenating the snowdrops, two huge red tailed bumble bees, and three red admiral butterflies, one of which landed on Keiths coat, (must have thought he was a brilliant blue flower) There wasn't much in the way of birds there, but then it is really rather early for the regular ones around there!
My garden has been delightful for the wild birds, I noticed a flock of around fifteen Longtailed Tits in the plum tree, and I have seen many greenfinches in my garden, despite the ravages of the finch virus that almost wiped them out at the end of 2005, but so far not seen one chaffinch, that is sad. plenty robins, and the incessant drumminng of the Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, I must admit I do like to wind them up when I tap on the gate with a stone, they come closer and closer, in fact I can draw them into the ash tree on the boundary, but once they see it's me they drum a real tattoo and buzz off. I guess they are just telling the rest of them that the fat human in the chair is playing silly 'B's.

James Lowther

Saturday 3rd February 2007, 22:33

As I'm a dorset birder guess i should make an effort to keep this thread going!! :-)

today saw the yellow-browed warbler again in Castle Cove, Weymouth, I've been twice now and both times it's been in the trees just beyond the end of the weird stilted structure to the left of the steps. Need to be patient and alert though!!

Slavonian grebe very close in off the beach also.

James

JSlee

Sunday 4th February 2007, 09:35

ali travers

Sunday 4th February 2007, 18:25

As a Dorset birder i am glad to join this thread.
just spent the day at ferry bridge and portland with some good birds
red-breasted mergansers
purple sandpipers
turnstone
gannet
red-necked grebe
rock pipit
guillemot
great day had but quite cold in the east wind

James Lowther

Monday 5th February 2007, 10:10

I'm an occasional visitor so don't know Castle Cove - is that accessible from Sandsfoot Castle?

Sort of yes..

you follow the road behind the castle for a couple of hundred yards in the weymouth direction (to the right as you leave the castle), then there is a footpath off to the right (might be signposted?) that leads to some steps down to the beach

James

Buzzard1905

Monday 5th February 2007, 21:34

went to radipole yesterday great view of bearded tits and watched a commorant for bout 20 minutes with a massive eel,took him a while to get it down but he was'nt givng up specially with the gulls lingering!also saw blue tits,great tits,shelduck,teal,mallard,little egret,tufted ducks,moorhen,coots,

also popped to lodmoor where the only highlight was a green woodpecker and a buzzard.

Buzzard1905

Tuesday 6th February 2007, 21:12

the bittern was showing excellently to the left of the north hide at radipole today also saw 5 bearded tits,teal,shelduck,mallard,bittern,grey heron,coot,moorhen,12 cormorant,27 lapwing,2 little egret,greenfinch,pied wagtail,robin,shoveler,great black backed gull,lesser black backed gull,hering gull,little grebe,tufted duck,mute swan

Also popped to lodmoor where the main highlights were 5 long tailed tits,flock of brent geese,and excellent close up views of a kingfisher,a buzzard,and a peregrine sending the flock of gulls up and down like a yo yo.A great day albeit a little bit chilly the bittern was just beautiful and made my day.

Nigel G

Tuesday 6th February 2007, 23:59

On Friday lunchtime I called in at Hatch Pond in the hope of seeing the bittern that has been reported serveral times recently. Of course there was no sign of it but I was soon approached by an angler who was desperately seeking someone with a camera to record the 20lb Common carp he had just caught. Happy to oblige I went over to the car only to remember that I had left the camera at home having down loaded some shots that morning. Having already said yes to the fisherman (and being a kindred spirit in angling terms) I couldn't disappoint him so I went home, retrived the camera, returned and the first pic below is one of a very happy man. (The fish was safely returned immediately after it ws photographed).

Anyway, was passing Hatch Pond again on Sunday so checked again. Found 2 other birders under the pines who hadn't seen it either that morning or in the last 20 or so attempts - sounds like me. Had a quick swing round the reeds with the bins and there - just possibly - was a vague shape that could conceivably be a bittern. So returned to the car, grabbed scope and camera and confirmed it was indeed the head and neck of a bittern which proceed to show occassionally over the next half hour. Pushed for time I settled for the sighting and accepted a decent photo was out of the question. However on driving past the front of the pond (were people feed the ducks) it occured to me that it just might possibly be a better angle if indeed the bird was still there.

Triumph - not only was it still there but standing in broad view and very aminable to being photgraphed. And then, with the camera still mounted on the scope and lined up on my bittern, whilst looking through my bins I realised a second bittern had just materialised in the reeds to the left of the first one - grabbing the shutter release cable I managed to fire of 3 shots and the last of the 3 below proves that, for the moment at least, there are 2 bitterns at Hatch Pond. A truely red letter day. :D

Saerwen

Thursday 8th February 2007, 03:18

[QUOTE=Triumph - not only was it still there but standing in broad view and very aminable to being photgraphed. And then, with the camera still mounted on the scope and lined up on my bittern, whilst looking through my bins I realised a second bittern had just materialised in the reeds to the left of the first one - grabbing the shutter release cable I managed to fire of 3 shots and the last of the 3 below proves that, for the moment at least, there are 2 bitterns at Hatch Pond. A truely red letter day. :D[/QUOTE]

I'm green with envy, having spent fruitless hours staring at those reedbeds. But there are compensations: watching the grebes displaying to each other as though they'd been parted for months rather than 5 minutes, and meeting and chatting to some lovely people.

Wendy Morris

Thursday 8th February 2007, 20:57

Another Dorset birder here, I'm up near the Somerset border. Only just seen this thread, but will return in future to see what's on.

Interested to see about the Rock/Water Pipits at West Bay, as I was a little confused by them back in the beginning of January. Saw them (I'm sure it was Rock) by the new breakwater and along the east beach towards the caravan park.

Hi Nina, do I recall your name fom the old beeb boards?

scary-canary

Thursday 8th February 2007, 22:26

Of course there was no sign of it but I was soon approached by an angler who was desperately seeking someone with a camera to record the 20lb Common carp he had just caught. D

I saw the bittern on sunday and it really did perform well. Pretty impressed by the carp photo too. Can't see the cormorants getting far with that one.
Chris

colonelboris

Thursday 8th February 2007, 22:28

Interested to see about the Rock/Water Pipits at West Bay, as I was a little confused by them back in the beginning of January. Saw them (I'm sure it was Rock) by the new breakwater and along the east beach towards the caravan park.

Ah - Since that post, I've been back home and had a look at the photos on a machine that can render the photos properly and it's a rock pipit. As you say, it was on the breakwater by the harbour.
Here's a photo of it (photo no. 2): http://www.tonykeenebirds.co.uk/bbirds/rockpipit.html

Frampton 25

Sunday 18th February 2007, 21:18

.. but no stonechats. i reckon the have deserted the heath - at least the bit I watch.

There have been two pairs of Stonechats which we've seen all winter along the Salisbury road from Blandford. One pair are in the roadside hedges adjoining the steam fair fields at Tarrant Hinton, the other pair are beyond Tarrant Hinton, between Turnpike Cottage and the Critchel turning.

Frampton 25

Sunday 18th February 2007, 21:24

We spent today in the Weymouth and Portland area. The highlights were nine Purple Sandpipers between the Obelisk and Pulpit Rock at Portland Bill; the Little Owl showing well in the Observatory Quarry; a Razorbill in close off the sailing Academy in Portland Harbour, and singing Cettis Warblers and squealing Water Rails at Radipole and Lodmoor.

The water level at Radipole is unusually high at present.

James Lowther

Saturday 3rd March 2007, 21:11

a little tour of east dorset today

Merley Park
hoped to get Mandarin on my Dorset list but turns out the lake is fenced off.. :(

Hatch Pond
after a long wait was just about to shoot off, had a last scan of the reeds and there sits the bittern, perched on reed stems like a giant er.. little bittern
showed very nicely for about twenty minutes but felt compelled to share my scope for long periods with an old duffer who wasn't too sure what he was looking at
;)

also saw 4 snipe at the top end

Lytchett bay
hoped to see spotted redshanks here but had to abandon the plan as the footpath completely flooded!

Sherford Bridge
hoped for lesser spotted woodpecker but no joy
lots of woodlarks around in morden bog south of here last weekend though

Arne
firecrest near the church in the village,
7 very lazy spoonbills on the "sandspit" from the hide
black-necked grebe off Shipstal point (but no long-tailed ducks)
marsh tit and GSW on the feeders at the car park

Warmwell cress beds
hoped for green sandpiper or water pipit
saw bugger all

anyone else seen owt good?

James

Buzzard1905

Sunday 4th March 2007, 20:27

popped down hatch pond yesterday morning hoping to see the bittern,ive seen the one at radipole lake but wanted to see the hatch pond one no luck though but did see two goldfinches which ive never seen before so that was good for me,also saw a cormorant,great crested grebe,and a few teal

nepp

Saturday 28th April 2007, 18:32

Hi
Coming over from Ireland for the next bank hol weekend and staying near Lulworth. Got the book "where to watch birds in Dorset etc".
Is the bittern still about at Hatch Pond? Where else do you recommend I visit?
cheers and thanks

Saerwen

Saturday 28th April 2007, 22:23

We stopped off at Hatch Pond today en route to the supermarket, and no sign of the bittern, although the great crested grebes have young and there's a cetti lurking.

Arne's always worth a visit - we saw a pied flycatcher in the oak wood behind the farm last week and there's Middlebere on the opposite side of the 'lake'. A cuckoo was calling from there on Monday.

Higher Hyde Heath is a lovely Dorset Wildlife Reserve, near Bovington where we've seen tree pipits, nesting little grebe, dartford and other warblers, grey wagtails and a cuckoo in the heath on the opposite side of the road.

Durlston Country Park has nesting guillemots and razorbills (with a webcam in the visitor centre) but can get busy especially at the weekend. Puffins usually nest along the coast, near Worth Matravers which has some excellent walks and a good pub.

There's a smashing walk on the edge of the Wareham Forest at the Sherford Bridge just off Morden Park Corner on the Sandford road. Although mostly coniferous, the forestry commission has planted the land alongside the river with deciduous trees which is attracting blackcaps, chiffchaffs and willow warblers.

Hope the weather keeps fine for you and have a great holiday.

James Lowther

Saturday 28th April 2007, 22:45

Hey Nepp,
the bittern has not been reported for a long time and as it's a wintering species in dorset is probably no longer around. There are lots of good spots in dorset at this time of year though. Depending on what you want to see you could do a combo of portland bill, ferrybridge, radipole lake, lodmoor, maiden castle car park for corn buntings, wareham forest, arne, hartland moor and middlebere, maybe even lydlinch common (see below, it's quite far though).

as for my sightings today...

headed down to portland bill for an early seawatch hoping to see skuas. Pretty much the first two species seen were bar-tailed godwit and whimbrel, both of which were to feature prominently over the morning, with flocks of up to 40 of each and many smaller parties. Apart from the waders, seawatching produced two close arctic skuas early on, 3 or 4 distant pomarine over the course of the morning, a slow but steady stream of manxies, two puffins (later seen copulating off pulpit rock), and most bizarrely an "eared" owl (couldn't honestly say which species) coming "in-off".

Then headed down to ferrybridge where little tern was an easy year tick, with at least 12 birds (including another copulating couple..) sat on yellow buoys and fishing in the channel behind the bridge. Several sandwich terns also, which occasionally perched alongside the littles on the buoys to vividly demonstrate the massive size difference.

In the afternoon i drove up to lydlinch common to look for nightingales. Despite the noise of traffic and the frankly nasty heat, a number of birds were singing. Unfortunately, barring a blur of movement in the middle of a bush as a previously hidden songster buggered off into the heart of one of the large and inpenetrable blocks of hawthorn scrub, no sightings were possible today. despite the early date, the vegatation is already very dense. Looks like nightingale will only make it into the "heard only" appendix of my yearlist.... However as partial compensation, several singing garden warblers were seen well. Other species heard at the site included cuckoo and lesser whitethroat.

Off to morden bog tomorrow, hoping for hobby, tree pipit and cuckoo alongside the resident species.

james

scary-canary

Monday 11th June 2007, 19:57

A pair of adult med gulls coming to bread on bournemouth beach on Monday lunchtime (today) and a common tern fishing from the pier.

scary-canary

Monday 2nd July 2007, 22:20

In fact they were an adult and a second summer med gull. Still present last Friday (June 29th) near Harry Ramsdens, Bournemouth

rmgwildlife

Wednesday 11th July 2007, 06:00

Has anyone seen anything interesting at Arne recently?? I've seen plenty of white deer!! but as for birds, not a great deal during the last couple of weeks

James Lowther

Sunday 15th July 2007, 20:00

Spent a few hours at the hide at middlebere today. Tide was very high to start with with just a large flock of 120+ black-tailed godwits with one grey plover roosting on the opposite bank of the channel, plus the odd greenshank flying around the marshes, and two stock doves which landed on the fence a few yards in front of the hide to keep me occupied.
Things started to hot up a bit as the tide receded with a large flock of 70+ curlews flying down the channel, 4-9 yellow-legged gulls (i'm not too hot on ID of subadults) flying in, a moulting adult spotted redshank and 6 greenshank appearing out of nowhere on the far bank (the spotshank eventually coming across to feed on the near mudflats), a couple of whimbrel, more curlew, a common redshank and a juvenile med gull all making an appearance.
not too bad all in all

earlier this week managed both roseate tern (monday) and arctic tern (tuesday) with the common terns at lodmoor. Both birds took a lot of patience and concentration to pick up so don't give up too quickly if you try for them yourself!

James

scary-canary

Wednesday 18th July 2007, 20:14

Beautiful afternoon at Tarrant Rushton airfield today. Quail still singing . Park at the main gate and follow the track/road round past the pigs until you are facing the big black hangar. The quail was close to the edge of the field, where the footpath splits. Of course I didn't see it, but it will be worth watching for when they cut the corn. Then there might be a chance. Lots of stock dove, yellowhammers and skylarks too.

James Lowther

Friday 20th July 2007, 10:05

well done with the quail Scary canary, i've missed out twice!!! :(

was it by the big black building in the middle of the airfield rather than the one by the pigs then??

scary-canary

Friday 20th July 2007, 10:24

well done with the quail Scary canary, i've missed out twice!!! :(

was it by the big black building in the middle of the airfield rather than the one by the pigs then??

Yes. About a twenty minute walk from the entrance gate.

scary-canary

Sunday 22nd July 2007, 18:03

At least four ravens at Tarrant Rushton airfield today. First time I've seen them there, in the grass near the big barn in the middle. Is this unusual?

James Lowther

Saturday 4th August 2007, 18:57

Quality not quantity today...
Spent a couple of hours at middlebere again this afternoon. Was very quiet, with just one wader (black-tailed godwit) feeding in front of the hide, despite semmingly favourable tidal conditions. However I did finally manage to get osprey onto my county list, with a bird sat in one of the dead trees off to the left of the hide for the duration, despite me mentally imploring it to come after the fish in the channel. Also year-ticked a green sandpiper that flew calling across the front of the hide a couple of times.
Three yellow-legged gull and two shelduck the best of the rest.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 5th August 2007, 10:17

I've been watching Kingfishers at Wimborne for the last few evenings. I join the River Stour at the public footpath by Canford Magna School. There's a small suspension bridge there to cross to the far bank. It's a lovely spot.

Here's a few photos I digiscoped there this last couple of days.

http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/152387/ppuser/19132
http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/152261/ppuser/19132
http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/152412/ppuser/19132

Paul.

James Lowther

Saturday 11th August 2007, 22:01

Spent a couple of hours at Lodmoor this morning

saw a good selction of waders including 2 wood sandpipers very close to the path (but with the light somewhat against unfortunately). There appeared to be one adult (grey-brown with bold white notches on the mantle and wings) and one juvenile (warm-brown with smaller buff spots). Also 9 dunlin, 7 black-tailed godwits, 3 common sand, 2 ringed plover and a snipe.

Highlight of a good selection of common warblers was a lesser whitethroat

also had one yellow wagtail creeping through the long grass

common terns were noticeable by their absence, the large busy colony of a few weeks back now represented by just a single adult and juvenile

but the most remarkable sighting was a senegal parrot near the compost heap. This is a species i'm very familiar with from a trip to Gambia, but it was still a bit of a surprise as i wasn't aware they were kept by the cagebird crowd - but i guess they'll have anything pretty much....

also had a stroll along the Fleet near East Fleet village in the hope the black stork might drift over - no such luck
probably buggered off once it realised saturday had come around!

Larry Wheatland

Monday 20th August 2007, 14:52

Hi folks,

What's the story with the Greater Yellowlegs at Poole Harbour on Birdguides today ?

Paul Corfield

Tuesday 21st August 2007, 14:00

Hi folks,

What's the story with the Greater Yellowlegs at Poole Harbour on Birdguides today ?

This bit of text was on the recent sightings section of the Dorset Bird Club website yesterday. I copied and pasted below the only bit of text there was.

Lesser / Greater Yellowlegs - Brands Bay reported at 09.30 hrs today, of a Greenshank sized bird with bright yellow legs but no sightings possibly it's one of these species.

Paul.

James Lowther

Friday 24th August 2007, 21:51

a few interesting waders around weymouth the last couple of evenings:

thursday at lodmoor

little stint 1 juv
dunlin 11
little ringed plover 2 juvs
ringed plover 1 juv (hanging with the LRPs for a nice comparison)
black-wit 13
common sand 3
green sand 1

friday at ferrybridge

little stint 1 juv
dunlin lots
sanderling 1
knot 1
grey plover 2 sum plumage
ringed plover hundreds and hundreds
turnstone quite a few

(note i can't be bothered counting over 13..)

:-)

timp55

Saturday 25th August 2007, 20:50

Where do people park to access Ferrybridge?

Getting back on subject - Middlebere is good at the moment - at least 3 osprey, knot and grey plovers around

scary-canary

Saturday 15th September 2007, 19:25

Decided to try and visit Longham lakes on a semi regu;ar basis - today's highlight was a black-tailed godwit which circled the lake but didn't land and a kingfisher. Counted 52 coot, 40 tufted duck and more than 30 gadwall.

scary-canary

Sunday 16th September 2007, 20:02

Gadwall numbers down slightly but 10 great crested grebes and three little grebes. Also 80+ starlings along the track

Paul Corfield

Monday 17th September 2007, 14:39

What's the best way to access Longham Lakes, parking the car etc? I may pop over there for some digiscoping one day.

On saturday I walked along the stretch of the River Stour at Wimborne accessed from the car park on Cowgrove Road. From the car park I walked across the fields first towards Wimborne and saw one Kingfisher. Then I returned to the car park and walked in the opposite direction along the National Trust footpath and saw two more Kingfishers. Also one Little Egret flew up and down the river. 6 young swans were also doing take off practice up and down a short stretch for around 30 minutes which was fun to watch.

Paul.

scary-canary

Tuesday 18th September 2007, 15:43

What's the best way to access Longham Lakes, parking the car etc? I may pop over there for some digiscoping one day.

Paul.

I park on the bridle track off the road between Haskins Garden centre at Ferndown and Hampreston, where the houses end on one side of the road. Then just walk along the track for five minutes. It takes about 30 minutes to walk round the lake and the light is very good in the afternoons for ducks, grebes if you are digiscoping. Good luck

Paul Corfield

Thursday 20th September 2007, 12:10

I park on the bridle track off the road between Haskins Garden centre at Ferndown and Hampreston, where the houses end on one side of the road. Then just walk along the track for five minutes. It takes about 30 minutes to walk round the lake and the light is very good in the afternoons for ducks, grebes if you are digiscoping. Good luck

Thanks, I'll take a look over the weekend hopefully.

Paul.

Paul Corfield

Saturday 22nd September 2007, 20:59

scary-canary

Sunday 23rd September 2007, 09:51

Went to the lake at Longham this afternoon. Plenty of Tufted Duck and Coot, around 10 or so Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Grebe, 3 Green Woodpecker on th grass at the side of the Lake, 1 Kestrel in a tree beside the lake and a couple of Heron just over the fence in the quarry. Didn't see any Gadwall but a flock of 7 waders flew over without stopping, not sure what they were though. Here's a couple of digiscoped photos. The Great Crested Grebe had a fine catch with the Perch in the second photo.

Paul.

There were three or four gadwall on the patch of water over the fence from the lake but otherwise the lake was quiet today. Huge movement of crows in the evening heading in the direction of Bearwood. Good to know other people are watching here too.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 23rd September 2007, 14:12

Got up early this morning and arrived at the Longham lake for 9am but it was very quiet, same birds as yesterday, just fewer numbers although saw 4 Little Grebe. Most annoying thing was a missed photo opportunity of a Buzzard sat on a post right at the side of the lake where the small brick building is. I was walking along the gravel track and didn't see it until I was only about 30m away. It was at the same height as the distant tree line and the bird just blended perfectly into the background. I set the scope down and was getting the camera ready when it took off. Real shame as it would have made a great photo at such short range.

Paul.

MSA

Sunday 23rd September 2007, 16:05

Went to the lake at Longham this afternoon. Plenty of Tufted Duck and Coot, around 10 or so Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Grebe, 3 Green Woodpecker on th grass at the side of the Lake, 1 Kestrel in a tree beside the lake and a couple of Heron just over the fence in the quarry. Didn't see any Gadwall but a flock of 7 waders flew over without stopping, not sure what they were though. Here's a couple of digiscoped photos. The Great Crested Grebe had a fine catch with the Perch in the second photo.

Paul.

Paul, there were 7 Black-tailed Godwit there yesterday (only the second site record, apparently!). Info from a guy called Dominic Couzens, who "does" the Lakes regularly.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 23rd September 2007, 18:08

Paul, there were 7 Black-tailed Godwit there yesterday (only the second site record, apparently!). Info from a guy called Dominic Couzens, who "does" the Lakes regularly.

Yeah, I spoke to a guy just a few minutes before they flew over so maybe that was him that I spoke to, there was only me and two other birdwatchers there and the guy I spoke to said he goes there quite a lot.

(edit) - having looked at Dominic's website and seeing the photo, it was him I spoke with at the lake.

Paul.

scary-canary

Tuesday 25th September 2007, 21:58

Here's a picture of the Black tailed godwit I saw at Longham on Sept 15

scary-canary

Thursday 27th September 2007, 18:23

Gadwall back on Longham lakes - about ten today plus lots of hirundines (Swallow, house martin and sand martin too). two buzzards and three cormorants plus one small duck which flew in, landed on the water and then disappeared when I tried to find it again. Thought it was probably teal.
Green woodpecker showing well in field near house (Green Acres)

scary-canary

Sunday 30th September 2007, 17:09

Ten plus gadwall and good numbers of tufted duck and coot plus usual five or six little grebe and great crested grebes. 20+ meadow pipits on new pit working. Common gull on lake and great and blue tits along the lane (which is a site record for me!!). Three jays over.
Red admirals butterflies and several dragonflies.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 30th September 2007, 18:25

Thanks for the updates scary-canary. Good photo of the Godwit too.

I was at the Longham lake on Friday 28th at around mid-day. Quite a few Green Woodpecker in all the surrounding fields, 6 Cormorants sat in the pylons by the lake, a handful of Swallows skimming the lake, only saw 2 Gadwall and all the usual other stuff.

Got my new digital slr this weekend so itching to get to the lake to try out some long range digiscoping. Shall wait for a fine day next week.

Just wondered had you noticed the old nest in one of the pylons as you walk up the lane towards the lake? Any idea what would have made it? Also noticed the rabbits in the nearby fields seem to be quite large for wild rabbits, must be cross bred or something.

Paul.

scary-canary

Monday 1st October 2007, 09:09

Just wondered had you noticed the old nest in one of the pylons as you walk up the lane towards the lake? Any idea what would have made it? Also noticed the rabbits in the nearby fields seem to be quite large for wild rabbits, must be cross bred or something.

Paul.

I've seen the nest too - but didn't start watching the lakes until after it was empty - probably crows or maybe a buzzard. Have you seen the map of Longham Lakes - it may help...
http://www.birdwords.co.uk/longham_lakes_map.htm
There is some other interesting stuff on Dominic's site too.

scary-canary

Thursday 4th October 2007, 18:00

No sign of yesterday;s ring ouzel, but they were working where it was reported from. New birds for me for the site were two wigeon, two shoveler, chaffinch, willow warbler and song thrush - isn't it amazing how a new patch list can make seemingly common birds exciting again? I posted the shoveler on a different thread to get some id advice here are the pics again. I got some nice pictures of a heron too - beautiful light for photography today

Paul Corfield

Friday 5th October 2007, 20:29

Nice heron photo.

I'm going to head to the lake on Saturday and Sunday for some digiscoping with my new dslr. Probably do a couple of early mornings and get there about 8am.

Paul.

scary-canary

Saturday 6th October 2007, 12:10

Nice heron photo.

I'm going to head to the lake on Saturday and Sunday for some digiscoping with my new dslr. Probably do a couple of early mornings and get there about 8am.

Paul.

Let us know what you see.

Paul Corfield

Saturday 6th October 2007, 12:55

My 4 year old son woke us up at 6.30am so I thought I may as well get up. Got to the lake at around 7.45am. Had my best day yet and spent a couple of hours there. As soon as I got to the lake from the lane there were 5 Heron flying low over the water. They were basically messing about chasing each other, being quite vocal and doing some aerobatics etc. It was great fun to watch. That went on for a good hour or so.

Spotted one Little Egret stalking fish on the far side of the lake near the quarry fence. Sat on the barbed wire of the quarry fence there were around 20 Goldfinch. Just over the quarry fence there was a Jay and a Magpie having a dispute over something or other. Saw one Stonechat in a bush just a few feet from me as I approached the quarry. Got a good photo of a Buzzard in one of the big trees by the main road near Longham Lodge. As I finished doing a walk around the lake there was another small flock of about 10 Goldfinch feeding in the small plants that have turned to seed near Green Lane. All the usual other stuff on the lake itself, didn't spot anything new there.

It was quite misty with not much light for digiscoping which was a shame and the sun stayed behind the clouds the whole time. Shall have to invest in a good telephoto lens for times like this I think.

Here's some pics.

Paul.

teamsaint

Saturday 6th October 2007, 14:05

wow 22 Spoonbills on Brownsea Lagoon. That's amazing

scary-canary

Saturday 6th October 2007, 18:57

Paul Corfield

Saturday 6th October 2007, 23:28

Paul - tat's agreat couple of hours and a great buzzard shot too. What camera are you using? I'm using a Nikon d50 with the 100-300 zoom lens which is excellent, but I too would like one of the big lenses. Can't justify spending 1500 pound on one though.
I'll check out the lake tomorrow.
Chris

I'm using a Samsung GX-1L dslr which is the same as a Pentax *ist DL2 dslr. Samsung and Pentax work together on their slr's and they just put their own badges on the same models. At the moment I've only got the kit lens which is an 18-55mm plus a 50mm f2 lens to use through the spotting scope. I'll have a 300mm telephoto within a week or two though. The slr works well through the scope in good light and that gives in the region of a 2000mm lens but ideally it needs the sun to be out to get a decent shutter speed. I'll try a different eyepiece on the scope on Sunday which should work better in low light.

Paul.

scary-canary

Sunday 7th October 2007, 10:45

Bit chilly at the lake today but good numbers of coot and great crested grebe. Also five little grebe, several herons and two little egret. Lapwing flying over was a patch tick for me as were blackbird, goldfinch and the egret. Heard a stonechat but couldn't see it.
Lots of wagtails in the horse paddocks, must have been 30!
One huge sparrowhawk flying over the road on the way back past Hampreston.

Anyone know why they play gull alarms calls here? Can't see that it works or that there is any real need for it.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 7th October 2007, 12:36

Ah, so that must have been you I saw walking around the lake this morning? I'll say hello next time. I got there at 7.20am. Not much going on compared to Saturday, the Heron weren't anywhere near as playful. Got an ok photo of a Little Egret and a Swan taking off. Came out quite good seeing as the lens was just two cardboard tubes with an old telescope lens for the objective and mounted on the camera as a prime focus lens. Shall develop the idea a little further. Actaully this year is the first year I even purchased a spotting scope, up till now I've built all my own from acquired parts.

Here's three pics, any idea what the little bird is in the third one, not very good quality I'm afraid.

Paul.

scary-canary

Sunday 7th October 2007, 14:32

scary-canary

Thursday 11th October 2007, 17:43

Five shoveler and eight wigeon were the highlights on the lake today and a raven gonk gonk gonking on one of the pylons - are they regular here does anyone know?

Paul Corfield

Thursday 11th October 2007, 18:31

Five shoveler and eight wigeon were the highlights on the lake today and a raven gonk gonk gonking on one of the pylons - are they regular here does anyone know?

I saw two Raven making some noise on the Pylons last weekend so I guess they are around.

Hope to get to the lake at the weekend. Got a lovely new scope arriving hopefully on Friday which will give me a nice 720mm prime lens for the camera.

Paul.

scary-canary

Friday 12th October 2007, 21:49

I saw two Raven making some noise on the Pylons last weekend so I guess they are around.

Hope to get to the lake at the weekend. Got a lovely new scope arriving hopefully on Friday which will give me a nice 720mm prime lens for the camera.

Paul.

How are you going to attach it to the camera?

Paul Corfield

Saturday 13th October 2007, 01:23

How are you going to attach it to the camera?

The scope arrived today. I got an 80mm William Optics ZenithStar telescope and it looks like the one in this attached photo but mine is in black. To attach the camera to the scope I'm getting a bayonet adapter to convert the Pentax bayonet fitting to a standard 42mm T-mount thread. Then I screw a T-mount to 1.25" adapter into that. The 1.25" end goes into the scope where the standard 1.25" telescope type eyepieces would normally go. The camera will just sit at the end of the scope as if it was mounted to a camera lens and you use the scopes focusing wheels to focus the image. The focal length of the scope is 480mm but because of the ccd size on a digital camera you have to multiply that by 1.5 to get the 35mm equivalent. That basically gives a 720mm lens at F6 which is good enough for fast shutter speeds. When it's all set up it will look something like the second photo. I did some tests today just hand holding the camera behind the scope and it will focus from around 6m to infinity.

Paul.

scary-canary

Saturday 13th October 2007, 08:34

It'll be interesting to see what results you get with it - looks great!

Paul Corfield

Saturday 13th October 2007, 15:33

Got to the lake at 7.45 this morning. Dark and miserable but at least the drizzle just about stayed away. Nothing out of the ordinary today, plenty of Heron, couple of Little Egrets, some Meadow Pipit just over the fence by the quarry and the usual mixture of ducks, Coots and Grebes on the water plus one Jay in a tree by the lake. Had a play with the new scope but can only hand hold the camera till the adapters arrive. Here's a few pics.

Paul.

scary-canary

Saturday 13th October 2007, 18:31

Paul Corfield

Saturday 13th October 2007, 20:22

Good numbers of duck today including one pochard and two ruddy ducks.

Paul, pictures look great considering you're hand holding it. I'm inspired to see if I can fix my old Kowa to my slr - any ideas as to how to do it successfully?

One quick test would be to stick on something like a 28mm lens and hold it up to the eyepiece of the scope. See what sort of shutter speeds the camera offers up. With my old spotting scope I found it was only usable on a bright sunny day and even then the results weren't all that good and that was with a top quality eyepiece. I think slr's through spotting scopes are reserved for the top 3 makes like Pentax, Swaro and Leica. Other than that I'd go the route I've gone and get a good quality telescope which are a fraction of the cost of a spotting scope but the optical quality is comparable.

Paul.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 14th October 2007, 13:07

Nice to meet you this morning Chris.

Highlight for me was seeing two Buzzards catching worms in the field where the horses are just at the start of High Mead Lane

After we spoke and I was walking back the other way by the quarry fence when I saw a small stocky bird with a long straight beak take off from the quarry and fly across the lake and on into the distance. Pretty sure it was a Snipe.

As I got to the end of the quarry fence there was a falcon sat in a tree and pretty sure it was a Hobby. Got a couple of long range photos, hope they show enough detail. After the lake I walked down to the thicket and took a few photos that came out well plus a fox looking for breakfast. See attached.

Paul.

teamsaint

Sunday 14th October 2007, 15:40

it's a kestrel paul, sorry ;)

scary-canary

Sunday 14th October 2007, 19:35

it's a kestrel paul, sorry ;)

He's right. Nice photos though, knowing how hard the equipment you are using is to focus! haven't seen the foxes there since the first time I visited the lake.
Still just the single pochard in with the gadwall and tufteds. I'm predicting the first rarity i'll finds at the lake will either be pied-billed grebe or american coot!
The only tick for me was wren today!!!

Paul Corfield

Sunday 14th October 2007, 19:58

He's right. Nice photos though, knowing how hard the equipment you are using is to focus!

Ah, so a Kestrel, never mind. Thanks for the id.

The scope is pretty easy to focus on static targets as the camera flashes up a little green light in the viewfinder and makes a little beep when focus is achieved. Had a look at all the other pics I took today and liked these two. It was the only flight pic I got in focus. It will be much easier once my t-mount arrives this week.

Paul.

scary-canary

Sunday 14th October 2007, 20:44

Ah, so a Kestrel, never mind. Thanks for the id.

The scope is pretty easy to focus on static targets as the camera flashes up a little green light in the viewfinder and makes a little beep when focus is achieved. Had a look at all the other pics I took today and liked these two. It was the only flight pic I got in focus. It will be much easier once my t-mount arrives this week.

Paul.

I still can't understand how the camera knows it's in focus if you're not using autofocus?!

Paul Corfield

Sunday 14th October 2007, 22:33

I still can't understand how the camera knows it's in focus if you're not using autofocus?!

It's the only dslr I've owned so I don't know if it's the same on other cameras but the focus indicator works on this camera in both auto and manual focus. Just electronic trickery I guess but it's very handy.

Here's what it says in the Samsung instruction manual and this applies when the switch is set to manual focus.

When you adjust the focus manually, you can either check with the focus indicator in the viewfinder or use the viewfinder to adjust focus. Look through the viewfinder, press the shutter release button halfway and turn the focusing ring (or in my case I focus the scope). The focus indicator appears and you will hear a beep when the subject comes into focus. Use the viewfinder when the subject is difficult to focus and the focus indicator will not stay lit. �� The beep can be turned off. (p.161)

Nina P

Monday 15th October 2007, 21:38

Looks like the Longham Lakes do support some good birding then, I must admit I didn't know how to get anywhere near without causing a traffic tailback! LOL! I must admit I am getting some very interesting birds in my own garden. A lot of Green and Greater spotted Woodpeckers, and my husband got lucky this year to see 12 buzzards in the same thermal (makes you sick, someone who really fails to appreciate the birds gets to see the best throng ever!)
Paul I guess you don't see Hobby's after the hirundines have gone back, try next year. I get them nest over the field just at the back of my garden, had one obligingly sit on the top of one of the fence posts back in August. My garden is a good spot as the five fields behind get little disturbance, and we have ravens flying around us now, but when they are breeding I never hear them. Plenty of corvids, jackdaw, rook, crow not to mention jay and magpie.
The newest bird on my patch has been the Treecreeper, nicely showing on the base of the Ash tree in the drive of my garden, it wound it's way around the tree three times then flew across the road to the Greater Spotteds Nesting tree.
Whitesheet is another great place to go birding, the Dartfords are there along with stonechats, woodlarks, linnets, kestrels, hundreds of buzzards, curlew, lapwing and greeen woodpeckers also known to have the lesser spotteds if you are lucky enough to spot one.
Any of you seen the Montagues Harrier this year?
Have any of you been to Martin Down Reserve lately? I would dearly love to be able to go over that place but the paths are definately not accessable for me. Even the electric buggy can't manage that terrain!
Good birding to you all, I hope to finally get out to do some birding next Sunday, either Hengistbury Head, or Mudeford Quay, almost guranteed Egrets and Oystercatchers, not to mention the ducks!

Paul Corfield

Saturday 20th October 2007, 12:26

Got to Longham Lake for around 7.30am. Cold and frosty with a thick fog over the lake and surrounding countryside but the fog gradually lifted over the 90 minutes I stayed. My dslr camera to scope t-mount arrived this week so tested it out on some flying shots and it all works really well.

Birds spotted around the lake today were - Reed Buntings, Stonechats, Herons, Little Egret, Green Woodpecker, Buzzard, 3 Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebes, assortment of ducks etc on the water but fairly low numbers plus too much fog to see all that well.

Some photos from this morning. Reed Bunting, Stonechat, Little Egret with the sun coming up and a couple of Herons.

Paul.

scary-canary

Saturday 20th October 2007, 18:31

Must have missed you by minutes Paul. The lake was beautiful today but not many ducks. Great for photos though - here are my swan, stonechat and heron attempts.

Paul Corfield

Saturday 20th October 2007, 21:04

Must have missed you by minutes Paul. The lake was beautiful today but not many ducks. Great for photos though - here are my swan, stonechat and heron attempts.

Yeah, I was just finishing as you were starting. As I finished I took a short walk down to the thicket which is where I saw the Reed Buntings.

I had to do a lot of photoshop work on my Stonechat photo as the dew shield on the scope had retracted which made the lens fog over.

Going to take a walk along the Stour at Canford Magna school early tomorrow morning for a change.

Paul.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 21st October 2007, 13:33

Well I ended up back at Longham again this morning, mainly to catch some photos of the sunrise through the fog. It was a real pea souper over the water and surrounding area this morning, about 20-30m visibility at times and zero vis over the water. Once the sun was up it burnt off pretty quickly. Plenty of Meadow Pipits along the quarry fence. Got some nice photos as the light was lovely.

Paul.

scary-canary

Sunday 21st October 2007, 13:38

I took this last night at sunset - it gives and idea of the site for anyone who has never been there but I really like the swan's expression. They are great posers.
Chris

James Lowther

Sunday 21st October 2007, 21:20

Nina P

Sunday 21st October 2007, 21:21

I quite agree with you!
My first Birding outing was today after a couple of years out through health problems, but got out the trusty scope and had about 30 minutes watching the tide coming in at Mudeford, boy was it busy there, I would never have had the chance to use the camera, as so many people would walk in front of me. I managed to spot a couple of redshanks, two little egrets and 9 possibly godwits, they could have been the black taileds but I couldn't really get a proper look as the world and their dogs would stop right where I was trying to have a go at ID's. Plenty of Oystercatchers, liitle Grebes, mallards, swans, and so many Black Headed gulls I couldn't possibly have counted them.
My best spot of Birds was whilst driving to Shaftesbury during the week, where I came across a filed full of Lapwings, I nearly forgot I was driving! The number of them was about the same as I used to see as a child in the next field to my parents farm, which became a housing estate when I was in my teens. I have never seen them in those numbers since, hence the near accident of the field full of them!
I must admit to being glad to get back into the old swing! Enjoy your birding all of you!

Paul Corfield

Monday 22nd October 2007, 00:10

Well it's not a report from longham lakes so i hope it's ok ;)

but eventually got good views of the great grey shrike at morden bog near the gate on the main track to the south of the old ruined buildings.
Also a flock of 17 fieldfares, a few redpolls heard flying over, a pair of ravens, lots of buzzards, kestrel and sparrowhawk

The more reports the better, it's up to people to make them. :t:

I may head out to Morden this coming week. The kids are off school for half term so I'll take them out for a good walk. We did Morden back in the summer but the mosquitos really ruined the day. Shall try and fit in a few outings to various places next week.

2 years out is a long time Nina but glad to hear you are out and about now. Get yourself a really loud airhorn on the buggy for when people stand in front of you. On second thoughts that would scare all the birds too, maybe a long stick with a sharp point and give them a prod. |:d|

Paul

Wendy Morris

Tuesday 23rd October 2007, 10:50

Red Kite this morning at the bottom of Dancing Hill outside Sherborne shortly after 8am.

Nina P

Tuesday 23rd October 2007, 11:03

Wow! That was a good spot Wendy, fantastic luck for you.
I have a particular favourite spot of a Montagues Harrier off a narrow road near Martin Down. I will not give the actual position as they may well get driven away. All I will say is that I have been lucky enough to get bombed by the male most years. My son was lucky to see the male when visiting a well known landmark, he was amazed to find out he had seen a very rare raptor!

Paul Corfield

Tuesday 23rd October 2007, 22:09

Went to Morden Bog at Wareham Forest today. Spent a few hours but didn't see the Great Grey Shrike. Aparently it was only spotted for 5 minutes today. I saw two Kingfishers at a small bog pool. Nearly got a photo of one hovering but just missed it. Plenty of Stonechat, a few Reed Buntings, various tits, Chaffinch, couple of Buzzard, a Meadow Pipit and numerous Robins. On the whole though a pretty quiet day really.

Paul.

Nina P

Wednesday 24th October 2007, 10:06

Wendy, it was my turn todayo:)I was driving over Wingreen Hill and saw 4 corvids attacking what I originally thought was a Buzzard, until I glanced up again and found it had a forked tail3:-) Yesss! A Kite! Wonderful, I never realized they were so near! I had seen one in the New Forest a good few years ago, but today I was delighted!!
Great to see them coming down here now!

Nina P

Wednesday 24th October 2007, 10:20

:t:

2 years out is a long time Nina but glad to hear you are out and about now. Get yourself a really loud airhorn on the buggy for when people stand in front of you. On second thoughts that would scare all the birds too, maybe a long stick with a sharp point and give them a prod. |:d|

Paul
I wish I could make them realise they are in the way, but some people are just ignorant, if you ask politely they just grunt at you and mutter, "tough nuts!" I have come to the conclusion that people are just selfish in the majority, but there are some really lovely children who are so aware, shame they grow up!
Your children may well grow up to be the few lovely ones, as you encourage them to watch the wildlife, its the ones whose parents don't care, that give the most bother. My only grandson (6 years old) loves to help and has even helped push me around a store, he couldn't see over the top(b less him) but I managed to help steer holding on to the relevant wheel to straighten the drive.:-O

Paul Corfield

Wednesday 24th October 2007, 11:18

I wish I could make them realise they are in the way, but some people are just ignorant, if you ask politely they just grunt at you and mutter, "tough nuts!" I have come to the conclusion that people are just selfish in the majority, but there are some really lovely children who are so aware, shame they grow up!
Your children may well grow up to be the few lovely ones, as you encourage them to watch the wildlife, its the ones whose parents don't care, that give the most bother. My only grandson (6 years old) loves to help and has even helped push me around a store, he couldn't see over the top(b less him) but I managed to help steer holding on to the relevant wheel to straighten the drive.:-O

Congrats on seeing the Red Kite today Nina. I saw my first one here about 4 years ago on the Canford Heath Nature Reserve which is pretty much on my doorstep. Not seen one since then though.

Yeah, I'm pretty strict with my children in that they learn to respect everything right down to the tiniest little bug. They had great fun yesterday running around Wareham Forest. Whenever I give the signal they know to stop on the spot and keep very quiet as they know daddy hates to miss a photo. |:d| They found 3 great big brown hairy caterpillars which they picked up off the path and put back into the undergrowth. All through the summer school holidays we went out walking at places like Studland, Badbury Rings, Wareham Forest, River Stour and a number of National Trust parks. I can't see the point of taking them to any number of overpriced attractions, they are such a rip off. We all got to see so much great wildlife this summer and best of all it's all free.
My son is nearly 5 now and if you ever met him he would give you hours of fun. He's known as the charmer because he talks for hours and always seems to charm the ladies. My daughter is 9 and quite the opposite, quite shy and quiet.
Have you ever been to the stretch of the Stour by Cowgrove Road at Wimborne? It's maintained by the National Trust and is quite accessible to a buggy as it has a nice flat path with plenty of viewpoints plus there's a small carpark. I went there a few times this summer and saw 3 Kingfishers on one trip wich was fun. May take the kids down there this week if the weather is ok.

Paul.

Wendy Morris

Wednesday 24th October 2007, 21:44

Hi Nina,

Brilliant! What a coincidence for us both! I got used to seeing upwards of 20 a day when we lived in the Chilterns near to where they released then in the early '90s. In the 9 years that we've been down here I've only seen 4. The most spooky one was as I was driving back from a day in Salisbury and the weather conditions were appalling. Torrential rain, mist and strong wind all the way until I was almost back in Shaftesbury. I drove through what was like a curtain of rain into a clear slot and one flew across the road at no more than 10 feet up, majestically and slowly....best part of the day!

I must visit this forum more often!

Glareole

Wednesday 24th October 2007, 21:58

Well it's not a report from longham lakes so i hope it's ok ;)

but eventually got good views of the great grey shrike at morden bog near the gate on the main track to the south of the old ruined buildings.
Also a flock of 17 fieldfares, a few redpolls heard flying over, a pair of ravens, lots of buzzards, kestrel and sparrowhawk

Hi all, from another Dorset birder :t:

James do you know whether this is the birds 'usual' spot? I visited Morden Bog today hoping to see it, but in a couple of hours searching I didn't manage to find it, but I didn't spend much time in the area you mention. I did see a few Dartford Warblers, one Raven and a Little Egret flying over.
Also could Paul's falcon be a female / juvenile Merlin? Something seems a bit strange about it although I'm almost certainly wrong!
Glareole

scary-canary

Thursday 25th October 2007, 19:47

Also could Paul's falcon be a female / juvenile Merlin? Something seems a bit strange about it although I'm almost certainly wrong!
Glareole

It's a kestrel. Sorry.

scary-canary

Sunday 28th October 2007, 21:17

Quiet weekend birdwise for me - a walk along Hengistbury beach on Saturday afternoon produced one female wheatear.
Sunday afternoon the rain spoiled a walk around, you guessed it, Longham lake. Did discover a burned out car! Probably been there ages. Also saw my first rat at the site!
Long tailed tits in my Colehill garden were the birds of the weekend.

Wendy Morris

Sunday 28th October 2007, 21:47

Popped to West Bexington this afternoon to watch the angry sea and had the added bonus of a selection of gulls performing on the wind. Some of the smaller ones were hunkered on the shingle, but a lot of GBBs were in the air and even landing on the waves. Quite acrobatic and fascinating to watch.

scary-canary

Tuesday 30th October 2007, 21:07

Anyone know more details on the surf scoters at Studland please? Good views, how far away and what's the traffic like round there - Wareham still a nightmare? Quicker to take ferry or just as bad?

Paul Corfield

Tuesday 30th October 2007, 21:52

Anyone know more details on the surf scoters at Studland please? Good views, how far away and what's the traffic like round there - Wareham still a nightmare? Quicker to take ferry or just as bad?

I'd be inclined to take the ferry to Studland. I went through Wareham last week and there were about 15 minute delays. The trouble is the roadworks are being done in phases and this week part of the road is totally closed according to the Purbeck Council website. See link below. The diversion is quite lengthy but straightforward.

http://www.purbeck.gov.uk/docs/86.07%20Poster%20Notice%20-%20Roadworks%20%20A351.doc

Paul.

scary-canary

Sunday 4th November 2007, 19:56

Got a walk around the lake today - not much going on just a couple of wigeon and aone pochard in with the gc grebes, coot, tufted and gadwall. Did count 26 pied wagtails together in one field near the pump house and two stonechats.
First patch tick for me - lesser black backed gull.

scary-canary

Sunday 4th November 2007, 20:11

Paul Corfield

Saturday 10th November 2007, 22:19

Parked in the car park at the rear of the Bridgehehouse Hotel at Longham today and joined the footpath which can be found at the very back of the car park. Had a nice walk along the Stour and spotted a few Little Egret, loads of Long Tailed Tits in the trees adjoining the river, a small flock of Goldfinches, possibly 3 Kingfishers but a certain 2 and got some photos, 3 Grey Wagtail, 3 Cormorants and a couple of Herons.

Going to go to Hatch Pond Lake tomorrow which is only about a mile from me and shall see if I can photograph either of the 2 Bittern that have been seen there this week.

Paul.

scary-canary

Sunday 11th November 2007, 12:12

Great views of a peregrine over the lake today, then sitting on the new diggings and finally perched on a pylon for the rest of my visit. Other new patch bird for me was a male bullfinch.
Gull numbers were good with 30 black heads and three common gulls.
Other birds were three pochard one shoveler plus the usual crop of tufteds, gadwall, coot and grebes.
Green woodpecker in the horse paddocks.
The bullfinch picture is just a record shot (obviously)

Shame i can't spell Longham

Paul Corfield

Sunday 11th November 2007, 14:08

Spent some time at Hatch Pond this morning. No sign of the 2 Bittern that have been spotted recently but a another birder pointed out to me where he'd seen it before.

On the far side of the lake I spotted a handful of male Teal, one male Shoveler, a few Great Crested Grebes, a Buzzard sat on lamp post overlooking the lake which was chased away by the gulls and a couple of Herons came and went.

Paul.

teamsaint

Sunday 11th November 2007, 19:53

Paul Corfield

Monday 12th November 2007, 14:26

Paul was it me who you spoke to I was the lad who told you where I had seen it before. This was at at about 12.

Hi teamsaint,

yeah it must have been you. I was carrying the big scope with the camera attached. Did you see anything in the end? I must get down to Hatch Pond more often seeing as it's less than a mile away from where I live.

Paul.

teamsaint

Monday 12th November 2007, 19:30

Hi teamsaint,

yeah it must have been you. I was carrying the big scope with the camera attached. Did you see anything in the end? I must get down to Hatch Pond more often seeing as it's less than a mile away from where I live.

Paul.

no I didn't see it or much else except a couple of Cetti's and commoner ducks. Still nice to add another person to my BirdForum member list (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1052256#post1052256)

Kev Rylands

Monday 12th November 2007, 20:30

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but if any Dorset birders look out into Lyme Bay they may want to consider signing this petition.

http://www.joandjoe.com/cardsite/conservation/the_wildlife_trusts.php?section=environment:marine

Cheers
Kev

Stevie babe

Tuesday 13th November 2007, 13:59

Hi Kev,

As a regular visitor to Dorset (and a one time herdsman in that county as well) I have signed.

Personally I believe most of the coast of th UK - with a substantial region of sea - should be protected and I fully support the proposed marine bill, hopefully coming to fruition in the not too distant future.

Steve

scary-canary

Thursday 15th November 2007, 19:23

Beautiful day at the lake. Calm and warm after the mornings sharp frost.
Good numbers of duck present - 23 wigeon, 4 shoveler, 3 pochard plus the usual tufteds and gadwall. Several stonechats. New for me was a grey wagtail which flew in and landed on the shore.
Also great views of a fox sunning itself.

This report on the Echo website relating to the reef plan

http://bournemouthecho.co.uk/display.var.1836295.0.dredging_threat_to_rare_spec ies.php

scary-canary

Thursday 15th November 2007, 19:30

Also great views of a fox sunning itself.

Here it is!

scary-canary

Saturday 17th November 2007, 15:57

Peregrine showing well on the quarry this afternoon. 19 wigeon, 4 pochard and small flock of long tailed tits. 8 herring gulls on the lake.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 25th November 2007, 19:30

Took a walk around Longham Lake this afternoon. Not much going on really. Watched a Great Crested Grebe come up with a lovely big Perch which it played with for a while and I think it lost it in the end. Got half way along the quarry fence and looked back to see a hawk hunting far off in the distance by the pylons and was hoping it would be the Peregrine spotted by Scary Canary but it was just a Kestrel. Managed to digiscope a couple of photos which turned out ok. First one was from around 200m away and the second around 120m. Plenty of large pools filling up on the quarry side and a number of Heron at them. Some Gadwall and Pochard on the lake along with all the usual other ducks etc.

Paul.

scary-canary

Monday 26th November 2007, 09:37

Nice pictures Paul.
I had a quick walk round the lake on Sunday morning - good numbers of wildfowl - 20 pochard and 30+ wigeon plus at least five adult lesser black backed gulls. One redwing over Hampreston fields.

James Lowther

Wednesday 28th November 2007, 22:43

Pretty good day today

painstaking examination of seemingly half the swans on the fleet finally allowed me to track down the 3 whoopers opposite herbury, viewable from just past moonfleet manor

this means my fairly respectable dorset list (216) is now exactly 90% of my unremarkable UK total (240), which i'm pretty pleased about!

There were tonnes of other birds on the lagoon as well (coots, brent geese, mute swans, wigeon, shelduck etc..) plus a few red-legged partidge in the fields around langton herring.

Later on single red-throated and black-throated divers at portland harbour were both late year ticks. Other decent birds there included great-northern diver, male and female velvet scoters, loads of med gulls, black redstart and dartford warbler, but i missed out on the goosanders which have been seen recently, and which would have been another good dorset tick!

James

scary-canary

Thursday 29th November 2007, 16:50

Saw the cattle egret at Upton today - quite distant for my camera - this pic is cropped and proves (to me) that the teleconverter doesn't focus sharply at distance!! Still it's a record shot.

Nina P

Wednesday 5th December 2007, 12:56

I did try and post yesterday to say I had my first sighting of redwing for this winter, a flock of three flew over my car as I was driving towards Wingreen Hill, very clear sighting from Tollard Royal over the Chase. Great sight of a winter occasional for me, but have heard Fieldfares around my garden, perhaps winter is on it's way.......Brrrrr.

Saerwen

Tuesday 11th December 2007, 00:35

Saw a first for me yesterday in Studland Bay - two velvet scoters. It was well worth going out on a pretty horrible morning.

scary-canary

Wednesday 12th December 2007, 16:27

At least 50 brambling, probably many more along the Badbury Rings road today. Quite flighty. Also redwings there

Al Longham lakes good numbers of pochard, plus gadwall, wigeon, tufteds and great and little grebes.
Good views of green woodpeckers and a chiffchaff in the reedy stuff near the dam wall on the hampreston side.
I missed the med gull and the sparrowhawk but did meet Dominic Mitchell, who is the keeper of the site list. Nice bloke.

scary-canary

Sunday 16th December 2007, 22:15

Very cold today. Highlights were 6 pochard, grey wagtail, two great black backed gulls in with lots of herring gulls, three grey herons, but no wigeon at all today.

scary-canary

Thursday 20th December 2007, 21:27

Beautiful day for birding today, although very cold.
Longham lake was partly frozen, good numbers of duck including 30 pochard, five teal, several wigeon plus the usual gadwall, gc grebes and coots.
Lots of long tailed tits present toy and a fine male bullfinch feeding along the green lane shoreline hedge. Fox hunting in the horse paddocks.

A trip to Holes bay produced greenshank and spotted redshank plus lots of black tailed godwits, two avocets, several pintail and other duck.
Adult yellow legged gull on the roof of kerry foods.

Nothing at all at the sandbanks ferry/harbour mouth.

Male and female goldeneye at poole park lake

No sign of the bitterns at hatch pond but one very pale pochard asleep, plus
cettis warbler calling.
Finished the day with a great view of kingfisher from the Longham Bridge Hotel.

scary-canary

Sunday 23rd December 2007, 21:42

Still good numbers of ducks on the lake - but today's highlights for me were house sparrows near the houses on green lane - they were a patch tick. Whooppeee!
Still waiting for the really big one. (snipe maybe!!)

scary-canary

Tuesday 25th December 2007, 12:02

Happy Christmas to everyone!

scary-canary

Monday 31st December 2007, 15:47

Flat calm at the lake today and very quiet birdwise. One redwing with blackbirds and song thrushes on the fields.A few tufteds and gadwall with lots of coots plus two teal on the quarry. Some big gulls, gbb, lbb and herring hanging around.
Long tailed tits in the hedge.
Happy new Year. I'm aiming for a British year list of 200 next year so i might need some advice on tougher Dorset stuff, like barn owl, long eared owl, little owl, woodcock etc - if you have any good site - especially for that elusive dipper (I've tried Maiden Newton and near Weymouth without success) you could PM me. Thanks
Chris

scary-canary

Sunday 13th January 2008, 12:34

Very windy today and most ducks on the flooded river near Hampreston fields.
Two new birds for me today - a male goosander on the quarry and an egyptian goose seen flying over Haskins and away from the lake towards Hampreston church. According to The Birds of Dorset that's quite an unusual sighting for the county but i don't know if they have increased recently?

MSA

Sunday 13th January 2008, 14:19

Hi Chris

There's been an Egyptian Goose near East Holme for much of the winter, but it wasn't seen on yesterday's Birdrace - wonder if it was that bird? Still a good sighting!

FYI, Dipper is a very tricky Dorset bird, but look at the Lyme Regis thread, as they do occur in the western extremity of the county.

I'll pm you re Woodcock and Little/Barn Owl when I get chance (need some info from someone else first). Are you keen to get them in Dorset, or would Hampshire be OK?

Cheers

Mark

scary-canary

Sunday 13th January 2008, 16:25

Hi Chris

There's been an Egyptian Goose near East Holme for much of the winter, but it wasn't seen on yesterday's Birdrace - wonder if it was that bird? Still a good sighting!

I'll pm you re Woodcock and Little/Barn Owl when I get chance (need some info from someone else first). Are you keen to get them in Dorset, or would Hampshire be OK?

Cheers

Mark

West hants would be ok but it's a big county and i wouldn't want to travel miles and miles from Wimborne to "twitch" woodcock or little owl! Thanks for your help.

Nina P

Wednesday 16th January 2008, 12:40

Woodcock, little owl and barn owls are in the surrounds of Horton.
Barn owl spotted 8.30 pm Wed 9/1/08 on Horton to Blandford road just before the waterworks. Virtually opposite the Horton Inn! Horton Fields, I have seen little owl in broad daylight last year, where they are building new Barn Conversion homes, currently the fields are flooded but on the telegraph wire next to the clearest post at 9am. Woodcock are to be seen on the road from Horton to Woodlands via Haythorne around 4.30am.
These I can say that I have seen on several occasions, the Barn owl has been around the Horton Inn for over 8 years! Going back to my mobile days and hubby and I were playing darts for the Horton Inn at the time, now recent sightings are from our trips to the Drovers Inn on wednesday evenings for the Pub Quiz that they have started up during the winter.
Take your pick of what you are after, but these are frequent spottings so you should stand a good chance.
Happy birding folks

James Lowther

Wednesday 16th January 2008, 13:11

whitesheet plantation is good for roding woodcock

that's just outside wimborne

scary-canary

Wednesday 16th January 2008, 14:42

whitesheet plantation is good for roding woodcock

that's just outside wimborne

Out on the heath? or along the track by the car park entrance?

scary-canary

Wednesday 16th January 2008, 14:44

Woodcock, little owl and barn owls are in the surrounds of Horton.
Happy birding folks

Nina
I meant to write to you last year after a nice Pm you sent me. Pleased you are still birding and thanks for the advice. i'll certainly give the owls a go.
Chris

James Lowther

Thursday 17th January 2008, 10:20

Out on the heath? or along the track by the car park entrance?

I've only been a couple of times, both specifically (and successfully) to look for woodcock so i'm not all that familiar with the local topography. You walk along the main track away from the car park through the woods through a couple of gates until you come out onto open heathland (grazed by horses). If you walk out onto the heath for a bit and look back towards the car park the woodcock patrol along the edge of the woods at dusk (listen out for the grunting and sneezing call). Both times i've been were in summer (june or july) but i'm not sure how early in the year it all starts, probably quite a bit earlier than that,

cheers,

James

Nina P

Thursday 17th January 2008, 18:03

I've only been a couple of times, both specifically (and successfully) to look for woodcock so i'm not all that familiar with the local topography. You walk along the main track away from the car park through the woods through a couple of gates until you come out onto open heathland (grazed by horses). If you walk out onto the heath for a bit and look back towards the car park the woodcock patrol along the edge of the woods at dusk (listen out for the grunting and sneezing call). Both times i've been were in summer (june or july) but i'm not sure how early in the year it all starts, probably quite a bit earlier than that,

cheers,

James

Have you seen the Dartfords there, and the yellowhammers, get there before the end of April and then you can see Curlew, Woodlark, Linnet and many others, not to mention the more unusual flora such as lousewort, (bit orchid like just emerging flowers from the heather scrub) or if you cross the main road, re bill oddie goes wild last night, there are also nightjars and SEO and LEO very close to this area, just a fascinating place to be. My favourite birding place.

Nina P

Tuesday 22nd January 2008, 10:26

Again on the way to Shaftesbury, I was given the most amazing view of a Red Tailed Kite, it swooped so low over the bonnet of my car I could see every detail, it then flew up into the tree by the roadside! WOW! WOW! WOW!o:D
What a delightful sight. I just wish I hadn't been alone, although I did have another vehicle behind me, I wonder what that driver thought!:t:

Nina P

Thursday 24th January 2008, 12:19

I daren't say where I saw this, but I was not driving, hubby was, so I had the delight of following this birds flight pattern, from one wooded copse to another outside Blandford, showing this georgeous sinuous S, long tail fairly heavy, raptor, chasing a corvid! What a delight, I hadn't seen one in this area before, but wow what a delight. Georgeous Gossie!

scary-canary

Friday 25th January 2008, 21:54

You're a raptor magnet!

cwpbirder

Monday 28th January 2008, 19:01

Excellent views of 41 Mediterranean Gulls at Ferrybridge on Sat, a mixture of adults and immatures. Also 4 Black-throated Divers in Portland Harbour, with a Great Northern Diver and a Black-necked Grebe, but I couldn't find the Long-tailed Ducks. Whereabouts in the harbour are they usually seen? Plenty of Red-breasted Mergansers as well.

scary-canary

Monday 28th January 2008, 20:52

Lakes were like glass today. Had to park near the bridge hotel and walk in that way. Saw a chiffchaff behind the houses and a stock dove over the quarry. Lots of wigeon and teal on the quarry and easier to see from a gap in the fence too. At least three buzzards present today.
Green woodpecker and kestrel teasing me by flying away as i got the camera out.

bob hastie

Monday 28th January 2008, 22:42

First posting on this thread for me
spent the morning at Arne yesterday, nothing much to report from here.
Then popped to Radipole on the way home to Somerset just in case the bearded tits stuck their heads up for a couple of seconds.
Stopped at the visitor center for a cup of coffee, sat down outside when the other half looked up and said "they're here"
One male and one female beardy then proceeded to feed right in front of us for the next 2 1/2 hours, views to within a few feet.

123473

123474

All i can say is yesterday afternoon took several months off the life of my camera shutter, when we left I had 28 shots left on my 9 gigs of memory cards.

Paul Corfield

Tuesday 29th January 2008, 00:03

Seen something interesting here in Poole in the last few weeks. Every Monday morning my wife and I do the weekly food shopping at the big Asda superstore at Poole Harbour. The store is on the edge of Holes Bay and that particular corner has a small reed bed. At low tide there is a wooden post that sticks out of the mud flats and three weeks ago as we left the store I was driving up the road and saw a large bird of prey sat on the wooden post. I was already on the main road so couldn't stop for a look. Last Monday the tide was in so the post was submerged but today the tide was out and the bird was there again. It's about the size of a Buzzard and possibly is a Buzzard but I've not had a chance to stop and get a good look yet. Seems a strange place for a Buzzard to perch though as it's a busy built up area. When my wife and I left the store today I pulled over but by then the bird had gone. I'll start taking the camera and scope from next week and see if I can digiscope it, it's only about 30 or so metres away so it's within easy range.

Lovely Bearded Tit photos Bob. :t:

Paul.

Buzzard1905

Tuesday 5th February 2008, 19:53

i saw that raptor sat on the post a couple of weeks back when i was going in to work,but couldnt tell what it was,only thing i could see was the front of it was white.

John P

Tuesday 5th February 2008, 21:12

Seems a strange place for a Buzzard to perch though as it's a busy built up area.

I saw one a few weeks ago sat on the grass three foot from the kerb in the middle of the Bakers Arms roundabout, in the evening rush hour.

Nina P

Tuesday 19th February 2008, 16:32

Beautiful Bearded Tits, I have yet to ever see them, heard but never seen so far!
I have been noting the number of Buzzards in more densely built areas, and how many of them have white fronts! Most have a band of brown midway down their front, otherwise white breasted.
Buzzards are often circling overhead in Cardiff so I would not be surprised that the bird in Holes Bay is one of them, but if it looks like the old fashioned Camel Coat flapping over the water then you can reasonably count it as Marsh Harrier. I happened to see a Buzzard Sitting in the edge of a field just outside Wimborne Town Centre this morning, looking as though it had just lost its breakfast!

Nina P

Tuesday 4th March 2008, 14:44

Took mt friends to the Airport (Hurn) and got a sighting of a good group of redwings sitting all around the fields that surround the airport, I nearly missed them as I originally thought they were thrushes, until I thought thrushes don't have red underwings, what a dozy old fool I am becoming! The brain has aged too much me thinks!
At home there are clusters of LTT's and goldfinches, stripping the feeders daily, I am struggling to keep up with their voracious appetites, the Blackthorn is now in flower, and I notice the hawthorn by the house has leaf greening showing, I think this is way too early, but the birds are certainly paired up and sparrows fighting each other while flying low and fast, I remember being hit in the head by them when I was small, got a nasty gash from their beaks, so now I am very wary of their moods. Plenty of drumming from the woodpeckers, but my hearing is not good enough now to distinguish their rhythm. I used to be able to tell the difference from the beat, but now I find it frustrating not hearing properly, well so much for having time when you can no longer hear what is going on around you. I have great respect for those who have been born deaf, as life must be strange to have nothing to listen to.

scary-canary

Friday 7th March 2008, 14:48

Adult med gull feeding on Bournemouth beach at lunchtime today and then calling from roof of Harry Ramsden's Nice bird and quite confiding.

scary-canary

Sunday 16th March 2008, 11:11

First sign of spring at Longham Lakes yesterday - three sand martins over the quarry. Also lots of wagtails and meadow pipits and at least 10 reed buntings.
Skylark singing and a kestrel too.
Two shelducks on the quarry

scary-canary

Tuesday 25th March 2008, 21:50

Pretty quiet at the lae today - a few reed buntins and pied wagtails, two shelducks on the quarry, one male pochard and the usual tufted (which i ought to count but i'd guess about 30.). Several chiffchaffs, which i guess are migrants rather than wintering birds. I've got high hopes for the spring - hoping for something special! It's a beautiful and relaxing walk even when the birds are few and far between.

scary-canary

Tuesday 8th April 2008, 17:08

Male and female wheatear and three little ringed plover on the old quarry side of the lake today plus several sandmartins (30+) and a willow warbler.

teamsaint

Friday 11th April 2008, 22:36

I was driving past Langford on Monday (7th) and spotted a very large white bird (?) on one of the lakes. I think it may well have been a Great White Egret, far far too big for a Little, and I guess Great White is more likely than Spoonbill. Might be worth keeping a look out in the area.
Tom

B Bray

Friday 11th April 2008, 23:35

If any one is interested, there were still thirty odd Corn Buntings this evening on wires at South Down on the Blandford to Salisbury road between Pimperne and Tarrant Hinton.

Ceeege

Tuesday 15th April 2008, 22:20

I'm looking for a bit of assistance from a few local birders including those from Dorset. I have some free time coming up and was looking for assistance in finding a few locations to photograph some nice shiny summer migrants. My original post is ---> this one here <--- (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=111715) but basically I'd be grateful to find a few local spots in and around Dorset to get a few new species over the next month or so. (I can stay with the in-laws on the Dorset/Hampshire border!) Check out the post above for a more in depth view of what I'm trying to achieve. (I don't want to spam too many threads!)

Thanks in advance :t:

scary-canary

Wednesday 16th April 2008, 11:40

One common sandpiper on the edges of the lake today.

scary-canary

Friday 25th April 2008, 15:35

After yesterday's superb little gull, no sign today. Still at least 4 common sandpipers , cuckoo calling and a garden warbler singing.

scary-canary

Monday 28th April 2008, 22:19

Big arrival of swifts this morning 100+ over Longham Lake.

scary-canary

Wednesday 30th April 2008, 14:08

Cuckoo calling and showing well today, plus reed warbler and my first whitethroat for the site.
Peregrine last night chasing the hirundines. Awesome.
Also four Canada geese flying around. first for the site for me.

Paul Corfield

Monday 5th May 2008, 19:59

I was mountain biking on the Canford Heath nature reserve today and spotted a Dartford Warbler which is a first for me.

Paul.

scary-canary

Tuesday 6th May 2008, 19:32

Common tern fishing on Longham lake today, 1.15pm.

scary-canary

Wednesday 7th May 2008, 19:59

Hobby over Holt Heath today. simply stunning. Not much else there though, apart from buzzards

scary-canary

Sunday 11th May 2008, 10:27

One out of season male pochard on the lake today, plus a canada goose, which is also unusual. two little egrets over the quarry and several reed warblers singing. Beautiful sunny day.

gareth_blockley

Sunday 11th May 2008, 12:38

Hi folks

I had a brilliant day around Weymouth on Monday 5th with Whiskered tern, Roseate tern, Hoopoe, Spoonbill and a whole load of more common migrants. We have Cettis at several sites near here but not as showy as the ones at Radipole!
I spoke to several people from Portland through the day and they predicted a Red-rumped swallow so i guess they must have been happy with the up to 5 birds around over the next couple od days!!

Great area for birding.

Gareth

scary-canary

Saturday 17th May 2008, 09:51

Male garganey this morning (Saturday may 17) on the flooded pools on the quarry at Longham lake, Ferndown. Scope essential for viewing here.

teamsaint

Saturday 17th May 2008, 22:45

little bittern, red-rumped swallow, purple heron lodmoor

glossy ibis ferrybridge (i guess this is the one that turned up at keyhaven in the afternoon)

great white egret, cattle egret, 3 garganey, marsh harrier radipole

last but not least, olivaceous wabler portland bill

I know where I'm going tommorow!! ;)

timp55

Sunday 18th May 2008, 17:20

Montague's Harrier (female) showing well over Hartland Moor today - been there for a few days it seems.

Paul Corfield

Friday 30th May 2008, 09:10

Took a walk on the Sika trail at Wareham Forest yesterday and got this nice photo of a Tree pipit. It flew down into a nearby nest just after I digiscoped a few images. Loads of Coal tits in the same area with newly fledged young being fed out on the branches. Quite a few Black Caps in the trees at Morden Bog. Nothing much else to report. Saw an Adder basking in the sun which pleased the kids.

Paul.

scary-canary

Saturday 31st May 2008, 16:57

Hobby over Longham lake today.

scary-canary

Friday 20th June 2008, 14:48

One mute swan with a very small cygnet last night on the lake - don't know where the nest was but the youngster certainly wasn't big enough to fly.
Also two fox cubs sitting in the sun on the far side.
Lots of swifts and house martins.

Wendy Morris

Monday 23rd June 2008, 10:13

Red Kite over road between Cerne Abbas and Sydling shortly after 9am. Flew down in to the Cerne valley.

Saerwen

Saturday 28th June 2008, 01:09

On our annual visit to Brownsea yesterday had superb views of a Roseate Tern on the Sandwich Terns' island in the lagoon.

John Bullfinch

Saturday 5th July 2008, 11:57

Hi all

Dropping in a request from Yorkshire if I may.

I will be heading down to get a ferry from Poole in the near future but will have at least half a day free. Can anyone suggest a decent birding place within an hour or so of Poole, preferably north of Poole. It would need some facilities there or nearby - a toilet will do. It would be nice to see some species which I struggle to see "up North". If anyone could PM me with some locations that would be great giving directions and birds Im likely to see.

Many thanks and good birding

John

scary-canary

Saturday 5th July 2008, 18:10

Blashford lakes near Ringwood is a nice little spot for half a day. Don't know what you'll see here that you can't see up north though. Write again with species you're hoping to see.

http://www.hwt.org.uk/blashford_reserve.htm
Chris

scary-canary

Saturday 5th July 2008, 19:01

Canford heath is great for heathland species

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/390566

Ceeege

Saturday 5th July 2008, 22:44

I'm next door to Dorset at the moment and would love to see a Woodlark and have a free morning tomorrow. Any ideas?

scary-canary

Saturday 5th July 2008, 23:36

beaulieu road station in the new forest, south of Lyndhurst is probably your best bet. depends on which side of dorset you're on.
I haven't seen any in Dorset recently near me.

Ceeege

Sunday 6th July 2008, 00:18

beaulieu road station in the new forest, south of Lyndhurst is probably your best bet. depends on which side of dorset you're on.
I haven't seen any in Dorset recently near me.

I went there are few weeks back but without much luck in a 2 hour search. Any specific place there or tips on which way to head from the car park? I'm only 25 mins away from there currently so could pop over weather permitting tomorrow.

scary-canary

Sunday 6th July 2008, 08:58

From reading all the reports on the hoslist site i assumed they were easy! Sorry. I don't have any extra advice. Might be worth asking on the hampshire site
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=78349

Ceeege

Sunday 6th July 2008, 09:53

I think it's going to turn into my bogey bird! Thanks anyway, I was also under the impression that they were relatively easy to find at the right locations though I'm often not the luckiest birder. I guess perseverence is the key though but with the weather out there this morning I think I might just stay in the dry and warm and leave them for another day!

John Bullfinch

Saturday 12th July 2008, 13:17

Canford heath is great for heathland species

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/390566

Many thanks for your ideas, we may be stopping for the night near here. Been off-line for over a week so hence the belated thanks.

John

Wendy Morris

Sunday 13th July 2008, 17:33

Red Kite over the A37 at Wardon Hill by Southern Counties Shooting Ground. Seen Friday 11th at 09.20 for approx 10 minutes.

scary-canary

Tuesday 15th July 2008, 19:17

Anyone offer sites near Wimborne for corn bunting, grey partridge or turtle dove for my year list?
Thanks
Chris

B Bray

Tuesday 15th July 2008, 23:21

Anyone offer sites near Wimborne for corn bunting, grey partridge or turtle dove for my year list?
Thanks
Chris

It depends on what you mean by "near" Wimborne, but you should get them on Martin Down, we've had all three of them there this year. From the Sillens Lane car park (the one along the lane from Martin village) head south and walk a large clockwise circle going as far as the earthwork on the western boundary of the down should get you Grey Partridge and Turtle Dove, but you may have to walk south from the A354 car park for a CB. Listen out for Quail too.

In the summer Corn Buntings can also be found all along the A354 Blandford to Salisbury road between Collingwood Corner (the entrance to Blandford Camp) and Handley roundabout. The wires around the Great Dorset Steam Fair fields, and the small Ash? sapling just Salisbury side of the Toll House beyond Tarrant Hinton are good places to start. They were there on Sunday.

In the winter they tend to flock near the GDSF site, when there are 30+ on the wires near the barns on South Down.

If you want to look for all three species nearer Wimborne, I'd suggest trying between the back of Badbury Rings and Tarrant Rushton Airfield, there are miles of footpaths and bridleways. There also used to be Turtle Doves in the Manswood area, but we haven't been up there for some time.

Good luck.

Paul Corfield

Wednesday 16th July 2008, 09:58

scary-canary

Wednesday 16th July 2008, 19:46

Good ideas - thanks. I tried some of the farm lanes near Badbury Rings on Sunday but got nothing. And missed everything at Martin Down earlier in the month too - too windy when i was there. I'll give your ideas a try.
Chris

scary-canary

Wednesday 16th July 2008, 19:47

Thanks Paul - you been to langham Lakes lately? There have been some very visible foxes there in the afternoons lately, but not many unusual birds apart from stock doves.

B Bray

Tuesday 22nd July 2008, 22:01

I've often seen flocks of Corn Bunting from the car park at Badbury Rings. That was last year, not been up there much this year yet. I usually start going up there with the kids through the school summer holidays, late July through August.

Paul.

A Corn Bunting was singing, and showing well, in the corn across the racecourse from the car park at Badbury Rings this afternoon.

Brian

Paul Corfield

Wednesday 30th July 2008, 18:06

Thanks Paul - you been to langham Lakes lately? There have been some very visible foxes there in the afternoons lately, but not many unusual birds apart from stock doves.

Sorry Chris, only just seen your message. For some reason even though I'm subscribed to this thread I don't seem to be getting emails to say when someone replies.

Not been to Longham lakes yet this year. Come to think of it I've not been to many places at all this year as I'm always in the studio painting, it's good to be busy though, a victim of my own success lol . The kids are off school now for their summer holidays so starting next week I'm going to be taking quite a few days off when the weathers good and visit all the local haunts, plus it gets the kids out and seeing some nature etc.

Paul.

Wendy Morris

Tuesday 19th August 2008, 17:48

Red Kite to west of Abbotsbury, above the ridge inland from the viewpoint on the B3167 at approx 13.50.

Dominic Couzens

Friday 5th September 2008, 10:25

Two Black Terns at Longham Lakes today

scary-canary

Friday 5th September 2008, 12:39

Dammit I nearly went this morning but the weather was so poor... will try to get there at lunch!

scary-canary

Friday 5th September 2008, 14:49

Black terns still there at 1.30pm! Phew! my 78th tick for the site - thanks Dominic!

scary-canary

Saturday 6th September 2008, 22:13

No sign of black terns at Longham lake at 4pm today. flock of 40+ goldfinches worth noting and still many house and sand martins

scary-canary

Saturday 13th September 2008, 19:48

Beautiful day at the lake - water as still as glass. Good numbers of tufted duck and coots and a couple of shovelers. No sand martins today, must have all gone this week. Highlights of a walk round, apart from it being sunny and warm for the first time in months were three grey wagtails and a kingfisher, my first of the year at the site.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 14th September 2008, 13:06

Agreed Chris, it was a beautiful day there yesterday and I was there for a couple of hours with the wife and kids as you saw. I was there about hour before you and there were 4 Buzzards flying back and forth between the pylons for a while which was fun to watch and got some good photos. Also a Kestrel on one of the pylons and another one in the big Oak tree by Longham Lodge. Some lovely big Carp in that lake which came right up to the edges when we were on the quarry side.

Where abouts did you see the Kingfisher, that's something I'll have to look out for in future?

Really glad they have improved access to the lake now with the lanes being recovered. Saves getting muddy feet especially after the storms we had on Friday.

Paul.

Paul Corfield

Sunday 14th September 2008, 18:20

Took my daughter for a bike ride on the Canford Heath Nature Reserve this afternoon as it's basically on our doorstep and we always see something interesting. Plenty of Stonechats in certain areas and saw 1 Dartford Warbler. Pretty much see Dartford Warblers every time we go over there now.

Paul.

scary-canary

Sunday 14th September 2008, 20:37

Paul
I wasn't sure whether it was you. The kingfisher flew right in front of you as you stood about a quarter of the way along the far bank, near the corner where the fence is broken. I was looking towards Hampreston and heard it call!

Dominic Couzens

Tuesday 16th September 2008, 16:00

There's an eclipse drake Pintail on Longham this afternoon among a good selection of ducks: 5 Shoveler, 20 Gadwall etc, all very close and easy to see.

Lots of Chiffchaffs around, a few Blackcaps

scary-canary

Wednesday 17th September 2008, 18:54

No sign of Dominic's pintail today, but still good numbers of ducks, 4 teal 10+ wigeon plus tufteds and gadwall. Several herons and at least 8 little grebe.

I went to portland/ weymouth today and , apart from finding a juveniule little gull at radipole and two meds gulls at fleetsbridge I saw a great big nothing. No migrants at all apart from Wheatears and grey wagtails.
Just my luck.

Paul Corfield

Saturday 20th September 2008, 23:38

Took a walk around Longham Lake today. Usual numbers of duck which included Tufted, Shoveler, Wigeon, Gadwall, a few Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebes, couple of Herons.

Took this photo of a duck which I wasn't fully sure of the id. Is it just a Mallard with pale colouring or a variant or something else?

Also a photo of three Swans doing a nice fly by.

Paul.

scary-canary

Sunday 21st September 2008, 00:11

Took this photo of a duck which I wasn't fully sure of the id. Is it just a Mallard with pale colouring or a variant or something else?

I'd say yes, it is just a pale mallard - they come in all shades when mixed with a bit of farm duck!
Beautiful light for photography today. I eventually caught up with the hoodie at Weymouth and got a brief glimpse of the melodious too. My year list is 172 and there are some shocking absences - most notably snipe and avocet! Hope to sort that out before Christmas!

scary-canary

Monday 29th September 2008, 00:05

Beautiful day at the lake this afternoon. Great views of a hobby, watched at close range hunting and catching dragonflies over the lake for about 20 minutes. Also two ravens calling and showing well. Several buzzards, and duck numbers still high, although most of the wigeon still in eclipse plumage.
A glorious spot for a walk.
Does anyone know what's being built at the southern end, where a large area of adjacent field is fenced off neat the pump house? Maybe something to do with all the work recently along the lane.

Dominic Couzens

Friday 7th November 2008, 22:02

I suspect it's the long-awaited Visitor Centre.

Good week at Longham. 4 adult Little Gulls flew over yesterday. 2 female Pintail on the ex-Quarry today, plus 9 Black-tailed Godwits.

Not bad for a site 6 miles inland.

Flemingo

Monday 17th November 2008, 16:26

scary-canary

Monday 17th November 2008, 18:03

First time at longham lakes on Sunday. Large numbers of coots, herons, little grebes, cormorants, black headed gulls, lapwing; various duck including wigeon, tufted, mallard, gadwall, teal, pochard; a few mute and a Buzzard. Horrible weather and 2 noisy children (mine!).Anyone know what is happening to this site. What's the small building under construction adjacent to the south shore and what is happening re the flodded workings. Are they still active?

The plan in the medium to long term is to flood it all. That should have happened this year but my be put back a couple of years. Good to hear of a fellow colehill birder.
Don't suppose it was you who had a nutcracker in your garden on Sunday?

Chris

Flemingo

Monday 17th November 2008, 19:10

OK you've got my attention. Nutcracker?? In Colehill???

Grando

Monday 17th November 2008, 21:13

I've heard that the Nutcracker was feeding alongside a Northern Flicker. On magic beans.

scary-canary

Monday 17th November 2008, 23:57

OK you've got my attention. Nutcracker?? In Colehill???

Herte what birdguides said for Sunday...

one reported feeding on a bird table at 3, Venator Place at mid-day briefly

if you see it before i do give me a shout! I'm guessing nutHATCH but I'd love to be wrong.

scary-canary

Wednesday 19th November 2008, 15:07

I spoke to the lady who saw the nutcracker today and she was certain that was what it was. For what it's worth (not much) I am unconvinced although i believe she believes she saw a nutcracker.
She told me someone had claimed another (or the same) along the cranborne road on Monday.
I'll be keeping my eyes open but I bet it's another that is never seen again. I am intrigued as to how the news got out, but the lady wasn't very chatty so i didn't press her.
Don't think i'm bitter - it is only a bout a mile from my house! (But I did see the staffordshire bird many years ago)

Flemingo

Wednesday 19th November 2008, 15:14

Flemingo

Wednesday 19th November 2008, 17:34

Don't now how to link threads but this is another birders report on visiting the lady with the nuthatch. Home > Forums > Rare Bird Sightings > Rare Bird Information > Nutcracker - Dorset. He seems more convinced I'll keep my eyes open

peterbrash

Thursday 20th November 2008, 00:13

Not read the whole of the thread, but I used to bird Boscombe pier as a local patch nearly twenty years ago, (bloody hell am I that old?).

First visit, had 19 little gulls and within the first month had had three diver sp, slav and red-necked grebe, velvet and common scoter, med gull and found an alpine swift!

Other highlights later on were short-eared owl and woodcock in off, manx and sooty shears, ring-billed gull and ocean sunfish. Somebody else gripped me with an ortolan. Keep plugging away every day and it will produce the goods.

Flemingo

Thursday 20th November 2008, 19:45

Nice morning at Arne today. Spoonbill and Mergansers amongst many others. No children today just a wife with itchy feet! No sighting on the nutcracker and I see other people have been searching without luck.

scary-canary

Friday 21st November 2008, 00:10

cold and windy walk round the lake today - lots of duck but nothing unexpected. Nice group of long tailed tits and a goldcrest. if the building really is a new visitor centre then this could become a really good site, especially of they manage the new working for waders. Hope it doesn't spoil the intimate feeling of a nice local patch. This year I've had garganey, little gull, black tern hobby and a flock of yellow wagtails here.

Paul Corfield

Friday 21st November 2008, 00:19

Hopefully they will police the dog walkers once things are up and running. None of them seem to take notice of the 'No Dogs Allowed' signs. Really annoys me when they are chucking big sticks into the lake for their dogs to swim after.

Paul.

Flemingo

Friday 21st November 2008, 14:46

I hope they don't just flood the new section as this would reduce the range of habitat.

scary-canary

Friday 21st November 2008, 20:11

It'll only be good for ducks if they don't leave nice muddy edges. But if they've gone to the trouble of building a visitor centre then I'm pretty sure they will sort out other habitat - reedbed etc.

AC/DC

Saturday 22nd November 2008, 11:16

Went to Blashford lakes with my 2 year old son today. Have to say he behaved quite well until he fell off the bench in the tern hide. ouch! As he did this while unclipping the legs of my tripod while wearing my glasses and holding a pair of my binoculars he managed to maximize my distress. All glassware and son survived intact! I later failed to clip up the window in the woodland hide which then fell on my head. That window is heavy!!! Still did some birds including the long-tailed duck. Still failing to get the great white egret. Why did they decide to put one way, non opening glass in one of the ivy lake hides?? It gets steamed up and there is no way to see out! Probably a health and safety ploy to stop people dropping the things on their heads!

It's probably partly to do with the fact that the woodland and ivy north hide are newer, and are near the education centre - they allow close up views for kids without disturbance. Last year there was a bittern very close in the reeds just below the hide, and the GWE has sat on the perches outside before. I think that the ivy lake side is geared towards families a bit more than the ibsley/mockbeggar side.

Flemingo

Saturday 22nd November 2008, 17:59

I can see how that would be but it's still a shame as the glass does reduce the clarity of viewing distant birds. On a good day its excellent at the woodland hide but on a bad day you can hardly see out. Can't have everything I suppose.

Flemingo

Saturday 22nd November 2008, 18:11

Morning trip to hengisbury head with the family and some friends. Not a huge amount about today. Highlight was a short view of a water rail. Other birds included cormorant, little egret, heron, black-tailed godwit, curlew, ringed plover, redshank, mute, wigeon, mallard, pochard, little grebe, coot, GBB gull, herring gull, BH gull, Kestrel, magpie, jay, crow, meadow pipit, starling, house sparrow but still no nutcracker!

I don't know if anyone has wandered over ferndown heath recently but it seems their scrub clearance has frightened off just about everything apart from the dartford warblers

Flemingo

Monday 24th November 2008, 19:10

V cold today. Lunchtime walk over Ferndown common confirmed that the bush clearance is chasing away all the birds. Only stonechat, 2 dartfords and a snipe. Latter a new spp for me at this site

zacatzooba

Tuesday 16th December 2008, 22:32

John P

Wednesday 17th December 2008, 00:31

I'd probably try Brands Bay, not really what you'd call seawatching but plenty of ducks, waders and divers. There's a hide at SZ023851 if it's raining.

Blashford lakes just North of Ringwood is usually worth a look too. Entrance at SU154072.

B Bray

Wednesday 17th December 2008, 08:13

Hi everyone in Dorset,
I'm visiting the area around Poole/Wimborne over x-mas and wondered if anyone has any suggestions as to where I can sneak off to when the inlaws begin to grate to do a bit of birding? a good seawatch site or anywhere with possibility of winter waders/ducks/grebes would be fab.

many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

rob

I'd certainly visit Blashford Lakes, it's only 20 minutes or so from Wimborne, I'd also look over Studland Bay from the Middle car park at Studland for Grebes and Divers, also Hatch Pond, on the road from Wimborne to Poole, where a Bittern has taken up residence for the winter.

Good luck.