Dorset - Athelhampton and Bardolf Farm - To Call or not to Call a "Tristis"!

 It turned out to be quite a day what with ducking in and out the house to collect deliveries combined with doing the rounds on the Farm!

The Water Meadows was the first port of call and a rapid tree hopping movement of Redwing (242) NE between 1215 and 1235hrs!

The continuing mild weather has seen the fly and general bug population quadruple around the banks of the River Piddle! With that there was an increase in hungry beaks to feed! There was more Chiffchaff in and around the bridge at the sign for Athelhampton and the house!

One bird immediately caught my eye it had buff head and upperparts highlighting the green through the wings and pale breast which lacked any yellow tinge. “Tristis” immediately rang bells in my head so I put the camera to work! I knew from previous experience of this sub-species of Chiffchaff that the call would be required to nail its identity so I set up my pocket recorder and patiently waited for one burst of song which never happened! I also played its call which usually provokes a reaction from any matching bird but again not even a change of direction from the head!

I let Simon know what I had found which was a tad ironic having told him earlier on in the day that I had not seen much of late. Even the pair of Pintail had gone to Silverlake!! I then went home to collect a parcel! I downloaded a picture to my phone and tweeted stating I had not heard the bird therefore I was not prepared to confirm the bird as a Siberian Chiffchaff! I have since learnt that “tristis” is more common these days and is readily accepted on plumage detail alone. That prior knowledge would have saved some drama in my head! 

I recall back in the day at a different farm frantically scurrying around with Garry and with Nick in the hope of hearing the “tristis” call to confirm a Siberian Chiffchaff! A few got away and were not documented on that basis! How times have changed!! The saving element to all this was I had nailed pictures of the bird!

The remainder of the day was spent up at Waterbarn Cottages checking the feeding stations and the farm buildings for Black Redstart or anything else that might take a liking to the area!

Dorset - Bardolf Farm Puddletown Water Meadows - Pair of Pintail!

I have spent the last couple of days trawling the Farm with one eye on the gulls should the Ross’s make a highly unlikely appearance! There have been reasonable numbers of Black Headed gull with a couple of Mediterranean Gull yesterday. Med Gulls aren’t rare in these parts but they do seem to take a while to filter through the farm!

The fields are in the process of being sprayed in readiness for cultivation around the beginning of March which should attract gulls to the fields to feast on worms and other insects that the plough will expose. Shallow non-inversion cultivation is used in conjunction with seeding Maize a cereal crop. I have yet to find a Yellow legged Gull or even a rarer white winged gull and this will be the best time to look!

A pair of Pintail was present today at the North end of Waterbarn Cottages near the A354. I am not sure if they commute to the flooded meadows or if they are hidden on other days when I cover this part of the farm! They dropped into a ditch today remaining out of sight for extended periods!

Buzzards are a regular sight at all the key areas on the Farm. Low flying Sparrowhawk had been stirring up the Lapwing over the last few days. Lapwing numbers are not as high as earlier in the year but there are several flocks that move around the area!

The Coot re-appeared at Athelhampton yesterday this is rare during my time on the farm! The Swan x Greylag hybrid made a noisy entrance to Puddletown Water Meadows today.

Dorset - Charminster (Dorchester) Water Meadows - Ross's Gull!

 

Thanks to an early heads up from Simon I took an afternoon jaunt down to Charminster (Dorchester) Water Meadows to bag only my second Ross’s Gull. My first bird was also seen in Dorset on Ferrybridge but it was a twitched from London. Today’s journey only took ten minutes but I had spent most of the day doing tourist stuff less than half a mile away!

I was surprised at how close to the road the bird was on the wetland. The bird was alone with the rest of the gulls further back on the meadows. The bird took a short flight after a lorry sounded its horn but seemed content feeding sitting a couple of times between bouts of foraging.

The bird was still there before dusk. The meadows are parallel to the B3147 before the BP Garage if you are travelling from west of Dorchester town. I have left a map for it to fly roughly northeast where it will become a patch tick on the Farm’s meadows. Hugo is also on high alert should the bird make that short journey!

Tomorrow may be an interesting day! Thanks again Simon!

Dorset - Wyke Regis Pirate's Cove - Richard's Pipit Ahoy!

The day started out on the farm but this was cut short with news of the Richard’s Pipit having been seen again at Pirate’s Cove at Wyke Regis. Thanks John Wall! I did not even take breath before I was on the road to Wyke with the intention of adding this species to my Dorset bird tally.

On arrival I bumped into a few regular hardcore birders which was an encouraging sign. Simon said the bird had flown in the direction I was walking from. The search began and a couple of hours passed without sight or sound of the Pipit! Uh oh!

Time moved on into the afternoon and I was losing hope of seeing the bird. Some folk had already given up the task and gone on to other things. I was seriously thinking of going back to the farm when I noticed some activity at the bottom of the hill. I joined the guys and there the Pipit was in the horse field near the top of the hill! It flew a couple of times calling but always returned to the field.

Some pictures and messages later and this pale bulky long legged pipit had been bagged giving plenty of time to watch on as it fed in the field. The morale to the story is if you are thinking of leaving a twitch stay for five minutes more! 

Dorset - Bardolf Farm Puddletown Water Meadows - Song of the Day!

The day had a spring like feel to it. There was plenty of birdsong at dawn. This had me lock on to my first bird of the day a Wood Lark. This was perched on the wires at the water meadows singing its head off. A couple of Yellowhammer joined it on the wires but could not compete with the melody!

It took a while to get pictures of the bird as the light was not great. At least it stuck around long enough to snap something before it dropped into the field. I did not have this species last year therefore it was a welcome addition to the yearlist.

Also on the playlist today were Song Thrush, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Cetti's Warbler, Mistle Thrush and drumming woodpeckers!

During the photo shoot I turned my head and saw a large mass of birds heading high towards the water meadows from the Northeast. Initially I thought they were starling but I had not seen this phenomenon before at the water meadows let alone this number of birds!

A check through the binos and the “swarm” was made up entirely of Lapwing and what a sight to see as the wheeled and whirled around directly above the now receding flooded area. The birds split into three flocks (one above) who parted and then came back together in what looked like chaos! This did however make them easier to count! I now have the task of checking all the pictures for other shorebirds!

During the display the Lapwings that were already resting on the ground joined the show eventually the majority of the birds landed of the muddy areas near mill mead. This was short lived as the flock was off again departing in different directions in smaller groups. The rest of the day saw flocks of Lapwing moving around between the key areas feeding and moving on to the next zone! 1268 was the final count from the initial display. Amazing!

I continued working through the farm and spied a Coot at Athelhampton! Why the fuss you may wonder?! The last one I saw was at Athelhampton on 3^rd February 2021 a day short of two years ago!

Not a bad day two species that were not recorded last year and the magical mass of Lapwing which can’t be bad!