My first outing in my new county was always going to be a bit of a twitch fest having looked through my puny Dorset County list last night! The day was clearly mapped out with three staging posts starting at Longham Lakes near Bournmouth then a scenic drive to Nottington near Weymouth and then Channel View Road on Portland to complete the mission!
Longham Lakes is a private fishery and watersports centre which has two reservoirs, pools, a marsh, small area of woodland and the River Stour. The later has kindly assisted in flooding some of the neighbouring fields. The prizes on offer were a Green Winged Teal which is the American race of the Eurasian Teal which is or is not treated as separate species taxonomy is dependent on what side of the “pond” you live on! The bird was very confiding patrolling the edge of the main island on the South reservoir.
Great White Egret were also present the first being located on the flooded fields before all three were seen on the South lake later on in the morning. This species is common these days therefore it was not considered one of my treats but nice to see all the same! The Great Northern Diver or the Cattle Egret was not seen during my visit which ended at lunch time.
Cattle Egret must have dropped off my list as I saw several birds at Abbotsbury Swannery in July but the record and the photos have vanished into thin air! What was I doing! The next stop was the Village of Nottington which has held this species in recent times. A slow drive down the lane checking the fields did not produce any of this species. The return journey I stopped in every possible pull in or Farm entrance to have a closer look. Two birds were spied in the field by the entrance to a farm both busy feeding away oblivious to the attention they were getting. Situation recovered!
Channel View Road on Portland has held a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling which has joined a flock of Starling frequenting the gardens and roof tops of the terraced houses. The Starling were mobile but the bird was located twice all but briefly before a stake out to get pictures of the bird took place. My patience paid off and the locals did not even bat an eye-lid at the binocular wielding weirdo that was using his vehicle as a hide as it was re-positioned in the street a couple of times before striking gold.
Mission accomplished- Green Winged Teal, Great White Egret, Cattle Egret and Rose-coloured Starling added to my meager Dorset tally!
No comments:
Post a Comment