Sunday, 29 May 2022

Dorset - Radipole RSPB - Gull Billed Tern!

 


I was still snoozing this morning when my phone went off! Brett had struck again with a Gull Billed Tern at the visitor centre at Radipole RSPB! It was time for my first twitch of the year! Twenty or so minutes later ther I was watching the tern happily resting in the shallow water! Thanks Brett!


This is my second UK bird and naturally a new species for my Dorset list. The first was many moons ago at Dungeness on 14th May 2005. I was glad I shot out to see it but left too early as a couple of Glossy Ibis turned up! Fortunately I had one at the Water Meadows but my pictures were poor!


Having departed the group of folk that were happy to see this bird I returned to home soil to take on dog watch. Now Dogzilla (Badger) is pretty good around birds so this was a good opportunity to cover some of the habitat around Tolpuddle!

We were out for a couple of hours the highlight was a flock of around 35 Mediterranean Gulls that were loafing in a field in the Burleston area!

A male Bullfinch was also very showy in Southover! I also recorded a couple of Reed Warbler that was singing their hearts out!

I photographed what I initially thought in profile could be a Willow Warbler but reverted to Chiffchaff after looking again at the photos. 

I have banded many a bird from both species and sometimes it is not obvious with the bird in the hand, particularly with juveniles. The wing formula soon sorts matters out! 

Caption: Hurry Up I’ve already seen that one!

Not a bad outing with Badger improving his fieldcraft along the way! 

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