Time with the extended family

There are five species of 'true' tit on the Dorset list - Willow is sadly now lost to the County as a breeding bird, leaving Blue, Great, Coal and Marsh as the most likely to be seen these days. (Long-tailed, Bearded and Penduline Tit are all from closely related families, but are not considered 'true' tits). After Willow, Marsh Tit is the least likely of the 'true' tits to be encountered, but there are a few sites in Purbeck where they may come to feeders in winter, including Arne and, this winter, Corfe Castle. I popped along there yesterday, in the half-hour of daylight which remained after watching table-topping Wareham Rangers U-13s drop three points at home to the Parkstone Falcons. A result, since you ask, which leaves them just three points ahead of second-placed Swanage, who they play in their next fixture - making it a real six-pointer of a Purbeck derby. The light was going as I arrived, and had I known the boys were going to get mugged in a last minute counter-attack I might have invested the 60 minutes I spent before that, watching them spurn a hatful of chances, getting better photos of Marsh Tit!

Marsh Tit, Corfe Castle

The much commoner Blue Tit at Corfe Castle

This Coal Tit was seen earlier in the day at Bestwall

Great Tit among the pines at Swineham earlier in the day

Long-tailed Tit, from the family Aegithalidae, at Swineham

Finally, an enjoyable camping trip

Regular readers will be familiar with my loathing of life under canvas, but this weekend I actually found a way to enjoy a camping trip. Specifically, by just being a day visitor to the Sandy Balls tentopolis in the New Forest, where the rest of the family were spending a sleepless and scurvid couple of days. Hooking up with them on Saturday, after a good night's sleep, and leaving them to it that evening, just as the cold started to eat at those parts which the midges had yet to reach, was my kind of camping. Even better, I didn't even have to seek permission to be excused: I have become such an unhappy camper that this time I was instructed not to go. As an extra bonus, there was just time before setting off to meet them for a morning walk around Swineham, and I haven't managed that a lot lately. A single photo tick for the year was on offer in the form of a Little Gull.

Little Gull, Swineham (#178)

Little Gull is a regular spring visitor at Swineham

A Broad-bodied Chaser would be a bit of a mouthful for a Little Gull...

...Four-spotted Chaser only slightly less so

I think this is a female Azure Blue Damselfly. My field guide says best distinguished from similar species by 'examination in the hand of the posterior lobe of the pronotum'. I don't know my pronotum from a hole in the ground so that's not much use.

Goldfinch is less of an identification challenge

 A more dowdy juvenile suggests local breeding success

This Long-tailed Tit was also not long out of the nest

Surely one of the cutest of fledglings

And speaking of breeding, here's a Little Egret in full courtship garb - note the pink lores and reddish feet

The pits are alive....

...with the sound of music. Apart from an amusing diversion to Portland on Bank Holiday Monday, my birding over the long weekend was dominated by warbler song around Wareham. Reed Warblers were the most numerous, with 47 singing males around the perimeters of the Bestwall reserve and the main gravel pit at Swineham.

Sedge Warbler: the song is often said to have a jazzy feel compared to the more rhythmic percussion of Reed Warbler. This one was also indulging in some enthusiastic song-flight.

Reed Warbler: last week most of the singing Reed Warblers remained unseen. This week they were more showy - perhaps getting a bit more desperate among the fierce competition at Bestwall.

Reed Warbler - backlit in the early morning light at Bestwall



Male Blackcap

Next most numerous among the warblers was Cetti's, one of our rarest nationally. 20 of these noisy chaps had me jumping out of my skin with their aggressive blasts from largely unseen songposts. Sedgies seem to be having a good year (11 singing males), while a few Blackcap (6), Chifchaffs (3) and singles of Whitethroat and Willow Warbler added variety.

Cetti's Warbler - defying the Cetti's Warbler rulebook by giving any view at all

Whimbrel

Reed Bunting also numerous at the moment - 10 singing males around Swineham



This Long-tailed Tit was not long out of the nest

Warblers weren't the only interest on the patch though: a pair of Whimbrel defied the Whimbrel rule-book by flying conveniently over-head for some photos; the first Swifts of the year entertained with screaming displays; and trios of Garganey and Egyptian Goose added a touch of class and trash respectively.

A touch of class: two of three drake Garganey I saw at Swineham this weekend

And a touch of trash: Egyptian Geese at Swineham

I fancied finding a rare heron in the reedbeds this weekend - but Grey Heron and Little Egret were the only ones in evidence.

All in all a timely reminder of my good fortune in having all this on the doorstep. And probably the best bird of the weekend went unseen by me, but was heard by some of the Poole Harbour night-owls: a Spotted Crake singing in the Wareham area. Best not to ask what they were doing out at that time of night...

I don't know my snails but this one has some intricate markings

Sedge Warbler

Mega-alert! Mega-alert!

Expect to see this message popping up on pagers and mobiles over the next few weeks. How do I know? I've just put my 400mm lens in for repair, that's how. Last time I did this I had point blank views of Lapland Buntings, Sabine's Gulls and Grey Phalaropes, but no decent gear to take pictures with. There's no good time to take your favourite lens out of action, unless you are fortunate enough to have a stash of top of the range spares in the cupboard (which I'm not. A 12 year old 200-400mm Tamron zoom which focuses slower than a Sloth with cataracts doesn't count.). So for now, here's the last few photos taken with the f5.6 before it went off to Canon, taken while pootling around Wareham.

 

Meadow Pipit, Bestwall

Pied Wagtail on a rooftop on Bestwall Road

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swineham

Brambling - part of a small flock which has spent a few months on the outskirts of Wareham

The Grey Squirrels (Prohibition of Importation and Keeping) Order 1937 makes it a criminal offence for a land owner not to notify Defra of the presence of grey squirrels on their land. It's true, look it up. I wonder if the owners of Bestwall House grassed this one up.

Long-tailed Tit, Swineham

Great Tit, Swineham

Elsewhere on Brownsea

Walking around the rest of the Dorset Wildlife Trust on Brownsea today, there was plenty of evidence of breeding activity. Canada Geese had goslings on the lawn by the church, and a brood of juvenile Long-tailed Tit (top picture) were causing a commotion near the villa. This male Reed Bunting posed briefly in front of the reedbed hide. Although conditions were slightly blustery, surprisingly few birders, or visitors of any kind, were on the island today for the time of year.