Dorset - Stanpit Marsh NR - A Glossy Start to the Day!

 

I spent the day at Stanpit Marsh nature Reserve where a Glossy Ibis had spent a few days. There were four earlier on in the week and perhaps this bird had stayed behind to gorge on the local delicacies. It was certainly feeding well and at close range too!

I took the circular walk around the reserve timing my arrival at the top end of the reserve perfectly with the incoming tide. Birds were beginning to arrive on the grassy marsh with clusters of shorebirds to sift through not to mention the masses of gulls out on a raised shingle island.

There were Wigeon everywhere therefore I took on the task of sifting through them just in case there was an American counterpart in amongst them. How my birding perspective has changed from the days at the Farm! I have certainly had to broaden my horizons with so many more possibilities to consider at these coastal sites.

A handful of Pintail came onto dry land infiltrating the Wigeon that made a hasty retreat from the newly claimed territory!

I had scope views of a Water Pipit that was feeding along the undercut bank. This bird honed into view as I was checking out a couple of Dunlin. Blackwit, Barwit, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Turnstone and Lapwing were the other shorebirds huddling in small groups as the wind blew consistently into the shoreline.

A few Oystercatchers took up a more inland approach to wind avoidance leaving many at the water edge. It had been a clear sunny day but a couple of hours stood in the wind had me beat so I decided to head back to check on a site that had been talked about in the village.

I arrived at Silverlake or Warmwell Gravel pits as light was fading. I had a tea spitting moment as I read the contents of the sign at an entrance to the site! I guess they won't be building an Incinerator here as £1m holiday homes are being built and sold on the backdrop of the developing area for wildlife!! 

I found a suitable vantage point and bagged a female Goosander which was roosting on a small island on one of the large pits. The picture is terrible but you can get the general idea. My scope gave better views of the bird!