Wednesday 21 December 2016

April...

I'm not sure I am going to get through this review of the year at this rate, so expect increasingly frequent and more badly drafted posts from this point on as I seek to catch up. The highlight of April 2016 for me was a family holiday in Scotland, in a divine cottage on the shores of Loch Creran. Divers, Tysties and Eiders from the garden made for a special location, and a bit of Scottish nightlife was on show too thanks to the moth trap. Despite some typically dreich weather, the birdlife in Oban Harbour provided plenty to photograph:
Black Guillemot, Oban Harbour: my photo, and bird, of the month for April
Iceland Gull, Oban Harbour
Hooded Crow, Oban Harbour
On returning from Scotland, spring migration was in full flow in Dorset - I was able to photograph an approachable Hoopoe, a more elusive Bluethroat and a positively coy Western Subalpine Warbler on the same memorable day on Portland:
Hoopoe, Portland
Western Subalpine Warbler, Portland
White-spotted Bluethroat, Portland
Closer to home spring also produced some good birds around Purbeck: Nightingales returning to their traditional breeding site on the Corfe Ridge, Hobbies hawking over Stoborough Heath and, one of the patch highlights of the year, a strikingly summer-plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit at Swineham.
Nightingale
Hobby, Stoborough Heath
Bar-tailed Godwit, Swineham
 

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