Sandhill. Of sorts...

A Sandhill on Studland Beach

After spending yesterday with the Somerset Pallid Harrier, breaking news at midday that the Sandhill Crane's southward journey had taken it to Suffolk left me with a dilemma: honour a promise to take the kids to the beach, or negotiate a second consecutive day's twitching. It was no contest, really.

Black Down bits and bobs

Leaving Black Down as dusk approached, two Wheatear were ahead of me on the path, and this Ring Ouzel was one of three in a hedgerow on the south side of the down - watched with the Pallid Harrier silhouetted in the background, on a final pipt-hunt before going to roost.

Ring Ouzel

Northern Wheatear

Pallid Harrier food

Twitch-henge, Somerset

Up and Black Down Again

After enjoying good views of the Pallid Harrier first thing this morning I headed back down for lunch to find that the few Crossbill I had seen on the way up had increased to a flock of eight. They appeared to be coming down to the track to drink from puddles and I stood by one of these for a few minutes more in hope than expectation. I was surprised when this male peeled off from the flock and landed about 20 feet away, to give an exceptional view and a rare photographic opportunity. It didn't stop to drink, unfortunately, but remained long enough for me to rattle off a few frames.

Pallid Harrier in Somerset

Events conspired to prevent an attempt to see the juvenile Pallid Harrier in Sussex last weekend - one of about 40 species I have seen but not yet photographed in Britain - so the chance to see another in Somerset this weekend had to be taken. A party of Crossbills chivvied me along on the long walk up Black Down and as soon as I arrived at the Trig Point the bird showed distantly. As it was heading around the north side of the Down, I carried on walking and it came reasonably close allowing the first and final shots below to be taken.

The picture below was taken much later in the day, after a short excursion to nearby Chew Valley Lake where Spotted and Pectoral Sandpipers, Grey Wagtail and some showy Water Rail were present. Oh, and an ice cream van.

The Harrier showed very rufous underparts, and the well-marked collar that helps distinguish it from Montagu's Harrier. I would describe the flight action as languid generally but when hunting small passerines it could show great agility. The bird would go missing for long periods, and could be difficult to see over the convex slopes of Black Down, but the sight of Meadow Pipits flushing wildly was often a clue that it was about to appear.

Middlebere monarch

Quality rather than quantity was order of the day at Middlebere tonight, with a single Curlew Sandpiper and Spotted Redshank among the more numerous Black-tailed Godwit. Yellow-legged Gull was also present, and this fine Sika stag entertained us with a regal walk in front of the hide and effortless leap over the fence.

Gulls giving the runaround

I had not seen Sabine's Gull in juvenile plumage before the recent influx, but the two at Sturt Pond near Milford-on-Sea brought the total I have now seen to five. They had been commuting between the Pond and some nearby fields - commuting in the opposite direction to me as it turned out, as I only caught up with them after two visits to the fields and two to the pond. Noticeably smaller than Black-headed Gull, as these pictures show, both birds were present, washing and preening for a few minutes before heading off back to the fields.

Knot bad for digiscoping

Apologies for the awful pun, but these approachable Knot at Cut Bridge were inviting to be photographed. With my 400mm lens still at the Doctors I had to make do with digi-scoping.