Puddletown Water Meadows was my primary objective for the day with a cress bed round robin with a check of the fields in between each stop. I am developing a local route with opportunities to incorporate other good sites into the circuit should time allow.
The water meadows held my attention for a few hours with migratory Wood Pigeon passing high overhead. A pair of Raven caused a huge reaction from corvids and also scattered all the Wood Pigeon that were resting in the trees. I have seen Raven over the woods before but they are not regular.
A juvenile Goshawk (Thanks Brett) got caught up in the chaos being chased across over the meadows twisting and turning to avoid its attacker. A new species for me at the Water Meadows!
The Goshawk escaped using its agility to out maneuver its pursuer! I talked myself out id of this species due to the streaking on the breast but of course did not consider a juvenile bird. The picture above highlights the size of the bird and long tail ruling out sparrowhawk, with the Raven mobbing it for comparison. The wings are also broad across the shoulders and rounded through to the tips ruling out Kestrel.
I predicted Lapwing would utilize the meadows once the water levels had risen and a couple was noted with the Wigeon and Teal on the pools behind the River Piddle. A Green Sandpiper was noted in flight. This species winters but is not always seen as several areas of the meadows are obscured from the road.
The Egyptian Goose was also present with a Little Egret that arrived yesterday. There was no sign of any other geese.
I finally secured a few pictures of the now regular Jay in the area. I am still surprised it took me so long to record this species in this area.
Having finally torn myself away from the water meadows I checked Athelhampton and made my way down the lanes to cover the cress beds. There was a significant Meadow Pipit presence on all sites but no Water Pipit.
Pied and Grey Wagtails are resident on the Cress beds but only one site holds Green Sandpiper which had not increased in number from my previous visit.
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