Man about town

Urban birding has become something of a habit lately, and we are fortunate in Dorset to have a number of good options in this regard. Last weekend saw me pottering around a few more of the county's birding hotspots between Portland and Dorchester. First stop was Fortuneswell and Chesil Cove at the southern end of Chesil Beach, where a pair of Black Redstarts were flitting on the rocks - same time, same place as a pair last year. A trio of Eider Duck were the highlight of a quick scan of Portland Harbour before lunch with the ducks and gulls at Radipole Lake in Weymouth. There was just time to twitch a first winter male Rose-Coloured Starling on the rooftops of suburban Dorchester before heading back to Purbeck to see about 10,000 of its more familiar cousin, the Common Starling, come in to a spectacular roost at Studland's South Haven.

Male Black Redstart, Chesil Cove

Black Redstart, Chesil Cove

Female Black Redstart, Chesil Cove

Rock Pipit, Chesil Cove

Meadow Pipit, Ferrybridge

Eiders in Portland Harbour

Bearded Tit, Radipole Lake

Blackbird, Radipole Lake

Carrion Crow, Chesil Cove

Dunnock, Radipole Lake

Shelduck, Radipole Lake

Black-headed Gull, Radipole Lake

Common Gull, Radipole Lake

Mediterranean Gull, Radipole Lake

Med Gull with Black-headed Gull above

The drake Hooded Merganser still displaying at Radipole

Always a show-off



Male Marsh Harrier at Radipole

Moorhen, Radipole Lake

Feral Pigeon, Radiploe Lake

Rose-coloured Starling, Dorchester

Not looking so good after a bath

Starling murmuration at Studland

Bony's back

An afternoon walk around Swineham on Saturday produced not much to write home about, apart from the removal of yet more vegetation which used to be beloved of the local Cetti's Warblers. So, slightly disillusioned with this and the absence of waterbirds, I headed over the border to Blashford Lakes in Hampshire on Sunday morning. A Long-tailed Duck present all week had departed, but a pair of Goosander, a Black-necked Grebe and a small flock of Egyptian Geese kept me interested, and the hides sheltered me from the rain. The weather kept threatening to improve but never quite delivered, so having checked the forecast for Weymouth I headed there in the afternoon for another hour with the returning Bonaparte's Gull, Dorset's first for around three decades. Many photos were taken.

Bonaparte's Gull, Radipole Lake

The Gull's feeding pattern would vary between dip-feeding...

...plucking morsels from the surface of the water...

...like this...

...or flycatching in mid-air...

...like this.

From the smallest gull at Radipole to the largest: Great Black-backed Gull in the car park...

...and the Hooded Merganser. Still there, still untickable.

Egyptian Geese from earlier in the day at Blashford Lakes

Goosander at Blashford was my only photo year-tick of the weekend (#134)

A confiding Little Grebe on Ibsley Water

This Lesser Black-backed Gull at Blashford appears to have been ringed in Guernsey

The Bonaparte's Gull showing its pink legs...

...and the distinctive upperwing pattern.

Bad hair day in Kent

Bad hair day...

Yes, driving from Dorset to Kent to see a dubious duck would have been a bit sad, but as we were staying with friends in nearby West Farleigh this weekend anyway, I did pay a 'rude not to' visit to the Hooded Merganser at Whetstead Gravel Pits on Sunday morning. The weather was foul though I suppose residents of the parched and pestilent South East were grateful for a bit of rain. Back to the merganser: frankly, her hair was a mess and she could not match the drake Smew on the neighbouring pit for sawbill beauty at its best. But it is possible that this is a wild bird, and therefore possible that it will be recognised as such by the records committees, and therefore possible that I will get a tick out of it. With escapes and Dutch feral birds to consider, it will not be an easy judgement, but a previous winter record in Kent (which I missed, despite living there at the time) has since been accepted so who knows.

...it just got worse.

I had dragged my family and our hosts to Dover Castle the previous day, ostensibly to appreciate some English heritage - and we did indeed enjoy the excellent new interpretation of the secret wartime tunnels. But there was obviously a hidden agenda, namely, to put myself within striking distance of the Kumlien's Gull in Dover Harbour, a cunning but unsuccessful plan as it turned out. Searching the web for directions to the birds preferred haunt, the Admiralty Pier, I chanced upon a rant on a fisherman's forum about how it had allegedly become an overcrowded and smelly place. After complaining about being the only 'white English' on the pier, it went on to use one of the most chilling phrases in the English language: 'I AM NOT A RACIALLY PREJUDICED'. Grammatically as well as politically incorrect, and in upper case as if to emphasise that these words are generally a cast iron guarantee of some racial prejudice. Depressing stuff, and enough to make any rare bird want to go back to where it came from...