Dorset birding (1 Viewer)

[Flemingo]

Windy day at studland and Old Harry. Thought I would pick up peregrine and raven as I always do. No such luck! At least I got a few extras. The most annoying part of the day was staring at this probable red necked grebe. Just to far away to say yes or no. Great crested, Slavonian and Black necked have all been seen recently. May have been Slav as I didn't see that, but not convinced. About 20 Mergansers and 15 Black necked grebes, couple of Mediterranean gulls also.

80 Ring neck parakeet
81 House sparrow
82 Pheasant
83 Rock pipit

Must go dinners arrived! :eat:

 

[constorekid]

I care , Just never have anything to say....

 

[Flemingo]

I care , Just never have anything to say....

You live in Dorset and I suspect you might do a bit of birding so tell us what you've seen and what you haven't. We get lonely sometimes on this thread. :'D

 

[Paul Corfield]

Yeah, I always read it and see what you guys are up to so keep posting. Not had time to get out much lately as I'm always in the studio but I will get out a bit more over the course of the year. I tend to lean towards photography of birds rather than seeking out rarities or keeping lists which is probably why I don't contribute a great deal.|:d|

Paul.

 

[Mike Cross]

No one cares what goes on on this thread... I'm just happy to have someone else posting on it regularly!

Hi guys. Couldn't agree more with you but being a hypocrit have done nothing about it. So New Years resolution is to contribute. Funnily enough most of the birding I've done so far has been on the dark side (Hampshire) and in particualr Blashford which I agree should be annexed.
Today has been a washout and too much work to warrant a lunchtime trip. I did venture out on Friday lunchtime to Ringwood where the Bean Goose was on the correct (Dorset) side of the river viewed from the end of Hampshire Hatches Lane as was a Bewick's Swan and on the way to work in the morning I found a Little Owl perched out in the open from the layby by the cottage on the Avon Causeway road to Hurn but no Stock Dove which was the intended target (the absence of cattle feed didn't help) but the Owl was better than compensatory.
I walked around Stanpit on Saturday morning where separate "crowds" were watching the wonderful Bearded Tit pair and the Little Stint. 3 Avocets and a Spotted Redshank made up the cast. I stopped briefly at Coward's Marsh afterwards where a male Goosander was bombing downriver and where there was a good Redwing and Fieldfare presence.

 

[Flemingo]

Hi guys. Couldn't agree more with you but being a hypocrit have done nothing about it. So New Years resolution is to contribute. Funnily enough most of the birding I've done so far has been on the dark side (Hampshire) and in particualr Blashford which I agree should be annexed.
Today has been a washout and too much work to warrant a lunchtime trip. I did venture out on Friday lunchtime to Ringwood where the Bean Goose was on the correct (Dorset) side of the river viewed from the end of Hampshire Hatches Lane as was a Bewick's Swan and on the way to work in the morning I found a Little Owl perched out in the open from the layby by the cottage on the Avon Causeway road to Hurn but no Stock Dove which was the intended target (the absence of cattle feed didn't help) but the Owl was better than compensatory.
I walked around Stanpit on Saturday morning where separate "crowds" were watching the wonderful Bearded Tit pair and the Little Stint. 3 Avocets and a Spotted Redshank made up the cast. I stopped briefly at Coward's Marsh afterwards where a male Goosander was bombing downriver and where there was a good Redwing and Fieldfare presence.

I had begun to think that there was no one else in Dorset! I managed to miss the Avocets and Spotted redshank at Stanpit. Are the Bean goose and Bewick's long stayers at this location or do they move around? Is it worth me dragging my poor son there?

 

[scary-canary]

I had begun to think that there was no one else in Dorset! I managed to miss the Avocets and Spotted redshank at Stanpit. Are the Bean goose and Bewick's long stayers at this location or do they move around? Is it worth me dragging my poor son there?

I don't know if they are regular but when i went last week they were not there first thing, so maybe later in the day is better. Were your parakeets easy to find? I've never looked for them there but they keep being reported in Studland.

 

[Flemingo]

I don't know if they are regular but when i went last week they were not there first thing, so maybe later in the day is better. Were your parakeets easy to find? I've never looked for them there but they keep being reported in Studland.

park at NT middle beach car park and walk up Manor road past the Manor House hotel. Normally hear/see them between car park and the pub-the name of which escapes me (where the second NT car park is).

 

[MSA]

the pub-the name of which escapes me (where the second NT car park is).

Bankes Arms.

For the bird race I'd taken down directions to their usual daytime roost tree as follows -

Park in NT car park by Bankes Arms. Take footpath to beach/Fort Henry at left end of row of cottages between car park and sea. Where path opens up into paddocks, birds sleep in tall bare trees on left.

..maybe next year we'll have time to try this site out ourselves!

 

[Mike Cross]

I don't know if they are regular but when i went last week they were not there first thing, so maybe later in the day is better. Were your parakeets easy to find? I've never looked for them there but they keep being reported in Studland.

The Spotted Redshank and 2 Avocets have been around since November I think. When I have seen the Spotted Redshank it has usually been from Fisherman's Bank which is basically a path in front of the houses you can see looking towards Mudeford. Accessed by walking up the main road away from the car park towards Mudeford until you get to a gap in the houses where you can see the marsh. The Avocets can also be seen from there or off Crouch Hill which is the hill half way through Stanpit with a bench on it.

I think that the Bean Goose and the Greylags it knocks around with are best seen lunchtime through to early afternoon. There are quite a few groups of Greylag and they can be elusive in the furthest fields. I think the Bewick's was a wanderer from elsewhere in the valley and possibly isn't as regular. It was however quite close on the other bank (albeit with the Avon in between). Word of cautionthough the path is going to very muddy and wet. It was frozen over on Friday and the bits in between were mud so I guess by now it is quite a mud bath and wellies essential.

As Mark says the Bankes Arms and Middle Beach Car Park is the best bet for Parakeets. They have used a nest hole bang in the middle beach car park.
I think the best options are either the circular walk described around the paddocks or even better scan the bay for Divers and Grebes and wait for their screeching to alert you to direction and distance they are at. Even better in Summer if you need to keep that special person sweet. Treat them to pub lunch in the pub garden and watch them fly over (the parakeets not the wife, she never gets that excited especially by scampi and chips).

Can anyone give directions to Ferndown Common? I work in Ferndown and have tried a few places at lunchtime over the years. Tried Slop Bog recently. Nothing of note but I would love to get that name on the Pager.

 

[Flemingo]

Can anyone give directions to Ferndown Common? I work in Ferndown and have tried a few places at lunchtime over the years. Tried Slop Bog recently. Nothing of note but I would love to get that name on the Pager.

Ferndown common is west of Church Road and sandwiched between Wimborne and Ringwood roads. Turn onto Wimborne road from Church road heading towards Wimborne. On your left look for an off road parking area. Park and follow footpath onto common. I normally access it off Brabourne Drive opposite the cycle way (Brabourne is off Mountbatten way which is off Church Road.) This corner seems best for Dartford warblers.

84 Dunnock

 

[Mike Cross]

Ferndown common is west of Church Road and sandwiched between Wimborne and Ringwood roads. Turn onto Wimborne road from Church road heading towards Wimborne. On your left look for an off road parking area. Park and follow footpath onto common. I normally access it off Brabourne Drive opposite the cycle way (Brabourne is off Mountbatten way which is off Church Road.) This corner seems best for Dartford warblers.

84 Dunnock

Many thanks David. I'll give it a go (hopefully at the end of the week)

Mike

 

[scary-canary]

Lots of golden plover and at least six ravens at Tarrant Rushden airfield this am.
I see there is a report of 10 waxwings at West Moors plantation today on rare bird alert. Hope they stay a while.

 

[Flemingo]

Lots of golden plover and at least six ravens at Tarrant Rushden airfield this am.
I see there is a report of 10 waxwings at West Moors plantation today on rare bird alert. Hope they stay a while.

Oooooo! Never managed Waxwing. More details if you have any. Meanwhile added a few to the Dorset year list. Lovely morning at Arne - apart from the cold. Foolishly I saw the weather forecast last night and thought 7 degrees sounded really warm so went without gloves. That would be 7 degrees at mid-day and zero most of the time I was there. Poor little fingers! Operating a cold metal tripod with no sensation in your fingers compounded the faulty catch situation and so I spent a lot of time catching my scope as the tripod self collapsed. (Still waiting for new one) Lots of Redwings, Black-tailed godwits, Curlews and Blue tits. (Every movement in the trees turned out a Blue tit rather than the Firecest I was hoping for- one of my many bogey birds) 4 Spoonbills but no sign of the 200 avocets seen yesterday. Lots of grebes out in the deeper water frustratingly just out of scopeable range.

85 Spoonbill
86 Treecreeper
87 Marsh tit (or Willow but I don't believe the latter exist)
88 Raven

 

[MSA]

no sign of the 200 avocets seen yesterday.

85 Spoonbill
86 Treecreeper
87 Marsh tit (or Willow but I don't believe the latter exist)
88 Raven

Do you ever go up the slope to the right as you leave the car park towards the reserve? Takes you through a small patch of woodland - if you turn right at the top you'll see over some channels where there always seem to be quite a few Avocet (we've never missed them there on the Jan birdrace - also there's usually a few Yellow-legged Gull there).

 

[Flemingo]

Do you ever go up the slope to the right as you leave the car park towards the reserve? Takes you through a small patch of woodland - if you turn right at the top you'll see over some channels where there always seem to be quite a few Avocet (we've never missed them there on the Jan birdrace - also there's usually a few Yellow-legged Gull there).

Thanks. We are over there on a family trip Sunday and it would be nice see a few. Yellow legs would be good for the year list too (I'm not becoming obsessed with this am I?)

 

[scary-canary]

RBA changed the waxwings in West Moors report to Crossbills, still not a bad record, but not so rare.

 

[MSA]

Thanks. We are over there on a family trip Sunday and it would be nice see a few. Yellow legs would be good for the year list too (I'm not becoming obsessed with this am I?)

If you're serious about the year-listing you want to get involved in bird racing - eg the Dorset winter bird race (held last Sat) - top team got 127 (we were second with 119). Mind you, that involved a 04:45 start, 18:30 finish, and 175 miles on the clock! Not that I keep a general year-list any more, it's too time-consuming to have to go to so many odd sites for just one year-tick. The only year-list I keep these days is for the CHOG recording area.

 

[Mike Cross]

Thanks. We are over there on a family trip Sunday and it would be nice see a few. Yellow legs would be good for the year list too (I'm not becoming obsessed with this am I?)

Yes it becomes an obsession. I have tried to better mine each year and managed 224 last year (which given my work and domestic constraints I thought was quite good). In some ways it's good because it is diverse enough and big enough an area to give great variety but is also relatively manageable. On the other hand if not careful you end up racing down to the western edge of the county for a species you pass up on because it is just over into Hampshire! So in that sense also unhealthy (on your sanity and the environment). So have decided this year not to Dorset List seriously but enjoy birding locally more. Who knows I may even pass the 110 a year mark for Christchurch Harbour!

Mike

 

[John P]

On the other hand if not careful you end up racing down to the western edge of the county for a species you pass up on because it is just over into Hampshire! Mike

The Earth moved and I missed it?
:eek!: