May...

Donald Trump said yesterday that he thinks the USA needs to tool up with more nukes. Well, greetings of the season of peace and goodwill to you too, Mr President-elect. With 2016 being seriously discussed among historians as a candidate for 'the worst year ever', the ominous tweet seemed almost designed to underline how little there is to look forward to in 2017 for those on the lunatic fringe who think nuclear holocaust a very bad idea. A good excuse to look back, then, to a time before democracy proved it's not all it's cracked up to be - to spring, and to May in particular, whose turn it is in my review of the year, as migrant birds arrived in their millions to distract us from the grim realities of existence.

The first half of the month was enlivened by some rare and scarce visitors to my adopted home county of Dorset - Kentish Plover, Black-winged Stilt and Red-rumped Swallow were all good birds, but top billing went a to dashing female Red-footed Falcon at nearby Morden Bog and a Great Spotted Cuckoo on Portland - a Dorset tick for me and many others. It gorged on Brown-tail moth caterpillars, which can be found in huge numbers at Reap Lane, for several weeks.

Red-footed Falcon, Morden Bog: my photo of the month for May

Great Spotted Cuckoo, Portland

Red-rumped Swallow, Lodmoor

Kentish Plover, Ferrybridge

Lepidoptera loomed quite large in my life in 2016: as well as being the first spring in which I had the opportunity to put my new lens through its paces photographing these smaller subjects, I steered an Action Plan for Pollinators through to adoption at Dorset County Council - a small but important attempt to boost the prospects of our declining butterflies, moths and other pollinating insects. Later in the year, some wildflower verges we had created as part of this got a hugely positive reaction from the public - the first time in my twelve year career in local government when the compliments in my inbox have outstripped the complaints! But back to May, which saw the emergence of many sought after species around Dorset's butterfly hotspots:

Duke of Burgundy, Cerne Abbas

Green Hairstreak, Cerne Abbas

Small Blue, Portland

Chequered Skipper - a rarity in Britain restricted to a few sites in north west Scotland - we visited one at Allt Mhuic on the way south from a trip to the Outer Hebs

May ended with one of my most epic and enjoyable adventures of 2016 - a three day trip to the Outer Hebrides with David Bradnum and Paul Welling. We made this mammoth journey to pay homage to the unprecedented spring occurrence of a Black-billed Cuckoo from the Americas and, having done so, to appreciate the dramatic landscapes, the breeding waders and other wildlife of North Uist, South Uist and Benbecula:

Black-billed Cuckoo, North Uist: bird of the month for May

Corncrake, North Uist

Redshank, Outer Hebrides

Female Red-necked Phalarope, Outer Hebrides

One of the highlights of the year and the furthest I travelled in 2016. Fortunately it came at the start of a week off providing for a leisurely stay to appreciate the breeding birds on the Hebrides as well as the vagrant Cuckoo - I would have had neither the energy nor the inclination to just 'smash and grab' the rarity in such a memorable location. And no, Mr Trump, it would not be a good place for a golf course...

Dragonslayer

It's not every day you get a Red-footed Falcon so close to home so I made a couple of flying visits of my own to Morden Bog during its recent stay. The last one was the briefest and the best: not long after arriving she came out of the sun to dismantle a dragonfly just a few metres above my head, then turned to make a single pass against a perfect blue sky. At least five Hobbies were riding shotgun, so between them they were putting quite a dent in the local odonata population!

Red-foot reprise

We were treated to an extended visit from a Red-footed Falcon on Wareham water meadows last spring, just a short walk from my home. This week has seen a repeat performance from another of that species - or possibly even an encore from the same - as a female has taken up residence at nearby Morden Bog National Nature Reserve, a site which will be known to many birders for hosting Britain's second Short-toed Eagle back in 2014. A diet of snakes kept the Eagle touring the heathlands of southern England that summer, but dragonflies are more to the liking of the Red-footed Falcon. It has certainly picked a prime location for them, so it may even remain in the area for some time to come.

I managed to catch up with the Red-foot in the fading light of Wednesday evening when offered a lift - what am I saying, I was virtually kidnapped - by Jol and Joe Mitchell who spirited me the three mile journey to the reserve. On arrival, we had no idea where to look but I picked the Falcon up with the first binocular scan, and we then managed reasonably close views near the edge of the Decoy Pond. She was more distant when I made another stop on the way home from work tonight, but the visit did nothing to damage Morden Bog's reputation as a raptor hotspot: a mighty Osprey carrying a large flatfish upstaged the Falcon en route to an unseen feeding post. What else might these warm south-easterlies bring to the Dorset coast this weekend?

Female Red-footed Falcon, Morden Bog

The heat of the day had died down so she was roosting up near the Decoy Pond

Nightjar will be churring on this heathland soon

Into the sunset

Morden Bog

Distant this evening but you can just see the dragonfly about to cop it here!

The Osprey plumped for slightly larger prey 

Not quite on the garden list...

...but not far off. This stunning Red-footed Falcon was a short walk from home in Wareham.