Dorset - Bardolf Farm - Birding Bonanza!

The weather today was overcast with rain that varied from mizzle to showers. It was a perfect day to be out in the field. The morning started with a couple of individual low flying calling Yellow Wagtails. 

These birds were followed by a couple of Green Sandpiper and a single accompanying Snipe. These birds appeared to be navigating south using the Devil’s Brook as their compass!

I covered the regular areas before departing to sort out “other business”. This was completed at lightning speed as I had a good feeling the Farm would have more to offer particularly as the weather had deteriorated!

The plan for the afternoon was to re visit the pools at Mill Mead where bird of the day was located. A Wood Sandpiper which was confirmed by Hugo as the second record for Bardolf Farm. The bird seemed attached to a couple of Green Sandpiper all of which were commuting between pools.

Just prior to my stake out I bumped into a Wheatear on the open fields another bird that had been pushed down by the conditions.

I have a good vantage point which overlooks the pools and I remained until dusk. A Common Sandpiper was the only shorebird addition with Canada Geese which are growing in number and a Little Egret adding to the species tally.

There are many non-descript days on the Farm which don’t get mentioned but this was not one of them! Days like this are few and far between therefore have to be taken advantage of!

The day ended with three species year ticks, two new species for my farm list and a second record for the farm. 

Not a bad day at all!!