After the cut and thrust of my January challenge, February is somewhat of an anti climax. All the winter migrants are settled in and there is not much to inspire spending hours in the field particularly with the amount of rain that has fallen during the month. But there were some glimmers of light that helped the month pass quickly.
There was also a brief cold spell mid month that did little to improve the passage of birds. I spent this period assisting Woodsford Farms (Woodsford, Waterston Hill Barn, Cheselbourne and Mintern) with their Big Farm Bird Count.
The bird of the month was the Short Eared Owl that was very obliging on a subsequent visit. I have seen plenty of this species in the UK but this bird really did perform well over the fields above the cliffs. I took over 150 pictures which I eventually narrowed down to five!
Conditions were ideal on this day allowing the bird plenty of soaring time around the fields looking for a meal. The bird covered a good area disappearing over the tops of the field only to return some twenty minutes later.
I have been given sites where good views of Goshawk can be achieved. The first location came up trumps on a second visit with male and female birds on view. Another area where I have heard of Goshawk movement provided a woodland fly over during some general birding.
Swineham Gravel Pit contained what is believed to be one of the Ring Necked Duck that I saw at the Buddens Farm Adventure Camp. I did not see the bird on a second visit to this location.
Further along from the pit at the Lower Piddle Meadows a Little Gull had been frequenting the pools. I staked the area out prior to high tide to add this species to my growing Dorset species list.
Black Redstart became a challenge that I totally failed with during January but a visit to Poundbury Cemetery at the end of the month produced the goods with a bird frequenting the rough ground and building site adjacent to the Cemetery.
