A look back at the beast

In the excitement of blogging about patch Hawfinches, I almost forgot to recount everything else I saw during the cold snap in the Swineham/Wareham area a couple of weekends ago. In truth, there was nothing spectacular, but plenty of common or scarce species were turning up in unusual locations, some surprisingly easy to see as the harsh conditions forced them into gardens or otherwise into the open in the search for sustenance. The highlights were a Firecrest in my postage stamp of a town centre garden, and an icicle-clad Spoonbill on the main gravel pit at Swineham. Sadly, two of this last species were found dead in recent days in Dorset: one had presumably succumbed to the cold, the other, which had two broken legs, was thought possibly to have snapped them trying to free itself from ice. An illustration of the harsh impacts of the freeze which, judging by the death toll chronicled on social media, befell many individual birds over the course of a few days. And a reminder to put some food out for the garden birds if the coming weekend's forecast of snow materialises.

Adult Spoonbill - I have never seen one with icicles on the breast feathers.

Black-tailed Godwit, one of several hundred on the frozen fields at Bestwall.

A few dozen Curlew were also present.

Fieldfares were in the gardens of Wareham.

Redwings were everywhere, including my town centre garden and this one in the town's churchyard.

Blackbirds were among the other thrushes in the churchyard.

Normally shy Song Thrushes seemed unusually bold in the cold.

Not a great view of a Water Rail - but any view is a good view in the thick reeds at Bestwall. This was one of three of this species out in the open.

This was the only reasonably sharp photograph of the Firecrest in my garden I could manage, snatched through foggy glass with shaking hands!

The first time I have seen ice floes coming up the River Frome!

Swineham Point inundated by a very high tide - Redshanks, Skylarks, Meadow and Rock Pipits were attempting to feed on the ice here.



Within hours of the last snowflake, the onset of spring seemed to resume: temperatures were back up to double figures and this Dunnock was belting out song as if to declare it had survived the harsh conditions.

Clear skies over Kent

After bleating about having no time to go birding in my last post, I decided to do something about it a take a day off. On Friday, my diary miraculously cleared. Unfortunately, on Thursday night, so did the skies over Margate, and the Eastern Black Redstart present since Saturday was nowhere to be seen.

Redshank - Walpole Bay, Margate

I spent a couple of hours looking for it and photographing waders on the beach before accepting the fact, and then salvaged something from the day by visiting some old haunts from my time as a Kent resident.

Marsh Harrier - Elmley Marshes

Oare Marshes was quiet but a Water Rail preened, partly obscured by the reeds. Lapwing were as photogenic as ever on the entrance track at Elmley Marshes, and a Marsh Harrier came surprisingly close.

Lapwing - Elmley Marshes

Dipping on the phoenicuroides was made worse by the fact that another in Northumberland was still present, with a Greater Yellowlegs nearby, but I had to be back in Dorset by 15:00 so a long-distance twitch was not an option. Despite this, though, it was all in all a therapeutic day, giving me my first glimpse of Turner Contemporary (looks like a posh fish processing plant) and a reminder that you can't see everything.

Water Rail - Oare Marshes