The day after a decent downpour can be interesting particularly if there is another day of rain to follow! Then plan was to blitz Bardolf Farm and the Water Meadows and stupid o’clock was the start time! The skies looked particularly menacing. Red sky in morning…..Uh oh!
The pool on the water meadows is filling up but there needs to be a lot more rain before the Piddle is assisted in bursting its banks. The dawn came in with the sound of honking geese from a field adjacent to Milom Lane! This is just outside the recording area but the Geese were obviously restless as parties took flight circling the water meadows are returning to the field! It took a while to get to grip with numbers but there was a flock of Greylag’s and another of Canada’s. There were a few stragglers of each but 70 (44 Greylag, 26 Canada) was the final tally over the meadows!
I took a drive down the lane later on in the morning but viewing is difficult due to the high hedgerow and narrowness of the lane. I found a gate to pull in at and watched the geese part in the direction of Silverlake!
After a quick pit stop at the house I drove round to Waterbarn cottages to continue my farm watch. The Sludge tank had its regular Green Sandpipers, Meadow Pipits, Pied and Grey Wagtail. The bird in the picture dropped in at Athelhampton whilst I was watching a tit flock.
Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Linnet were nearby some utilizing the wires which made counts easy to complete.
A wander round to the River Piddle saw a Kingfisher perched up on one of the new log features that were added by the Dorset Wildlife Trust.
A couple of Stonechat were in the hedgerow just along from the gate. Calling Chiffchaff was all checked just in case a YBW was lurking behind one of the calls!
The day moved on and my first sighting of a Hobby as I crossed over the footbridge above the A35. This bird was seen again 3hrs later patrolling high above the Piddle. Both the ponds were checked with Little Grebe on both.
There were good numbers of gulls scattered about the fields some had gathered to wash up and rest but I could only find Herrings of varying ages with Lesser Black Backed!
The day ended back at the Water Meadows and I took my leave as another wave of menacing clouds rolled in. Nothing special today but plenty of birds moving around keeping me occupied recording 54 species in just over eleven hours!
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