Hudwit

We had friends over at the weekend so I never thought I'd get out geeking the local patch never mind get a twitch in...

On the Saturday night I took some of them to a local badger sett which I'd been raving about, after waiting patiently for about 40 minutes I was convinced the badgers weren't going to perform, but then one was spotted outside the furthest hole.  We ended up having an adult and 3 cubs to watch which was awesome.

The following morning I was up at 06:30 and off to Somerset for the Hudsonian Godwit, there are some amazing photos of it on Twitter, this is not one of them...

Hudsonian Godwit

For those sharp eyed among you, if you combine that with great imagination you will of course by telling me the right hand bird is a Ruff, you obviously don't need me to tell you due to my mastery of the camera, that the bird in the centre is the Hudsonian Godwit.

I had a few NFY's which is always nice, the first being a beautiful male Garganey, he was way too far out for me to entertain the idea of a photo.  I then had Bittern, Marsh Harrier, Hobby, Swift and Kingfisher.

Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Whitethroat seemed to be in every tree trying to out sing each other.

Sedge Warbler

 Sedge Warbler

Whitethroat

Blackcap

 

This Woodpigeon was feeding her two chicks from her crop.

 

Woodpigeon

 

 On the way home I stopped at my local patch and found Swift again which was a patch tick, I didn't stay as the weather had turned.

Bournemouth Visit

Visiting family in Bournemouth over the weekend but misses allowed me to have Saturday off to go geeking, where to go though with so many great sites to choose from?

The weather wasn't that great but I was determined to make the most of it so I started at Upton CP as a Green Winged Teal had been reported for a few days previous.  Luckily for me somebody with a scope put me on as mine is in dire need of an upgrade.  Other birds present were hundreds of Eurasian Teal and Wigeon, there was about 25 Shelduck, 20 Avocet, plenty of Redshank, a Spotted Redshank, a few Oystercatcher and Curlew.  I then popped over to Holes Bay as 3 x Siberian Chiffchaff had been reported, I managed to find two flitting around with a Goldcrest.

Nuthatch

 

 Avocet

 

 Curlew

 

Little Egret

I then headed over to Radipole Lake to see if I could connect with a Marsh Harrier which I successfully did, photo isn't too great I'm afraid but you can make out this female well enough I think?  Was hoping for Bearded Tit and Cetti's Warbler but only managed to hear a Chetti's Warbler.  5 gull species were present; Great Black Backed, Lesser Black Backed, Herring, Common and Black Headed.

 Female Marsh Harrier

 

 Great Black Backed Gull

 

 Lesser Black Backed & Herring Gulls

 

Robin

The plan was then to pop over to Ferrybridge as plenty of Divers and Grebes had been reported but the day had already come to an end, Dorset definately has a great selection of sites, I'll have to plan a weekend there during migration I think, spend some time around Portland.