Top Quality Birding ....... and some Photos Too !!!!!

Record shot of Lesser Yellowlegs.

I  headed of to Shapwick Heath for the recently found Lesser Yellowlegs  and although it was a bit to distant to get a decent photo it showed very well through the scope , a really smart wader to see  , hence its name the yellow legs were very evident constantly feeding and every now and again it stopped to have a preen , quite long necked and overall a very delicate looking wader , other birds of note were Hobby, Garden Warbler and Reed Warbler which were all new birds for the year , i heard at least 3 booming Bitterns which was superb and several Common Whitethroats were seen and heard as was Blackcap , Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler , i spent a good couple of hours here hoping the Yellowlegs would come abit closer but it stayed loyal to the back of the pool along with 20 odd Black tailed godwits in their fine summer plumage . 

 From here i headed of to the Stour Valley in Bournemouth for the adult Night Heron which showed really well compared to the juv. i saw last week , this bird was stunning to see i saw it in flight on a couple of occasions and it was also calling at times.

Adult Night Heron.

I also heard  a reeling Grasshopper Warbler and i was also treated to a fishing Kingfisher , there were a pair of Long Tailed Tits nest building nearby , a really pleasant location to visit.

I decided to head to Ashdown Forest  and i was rewarded with at least 6 Common Redstarts  , i also encounted several Lesser Redpolls and Common Whitethroats , i stacked out an area and i tried to get a photo of a Redstart , when i  saw a superb Woodlark doing its display flight , quite superb and one of the best sights and sounds  (in my opinion that is) of displaying British breeding birds . 

Eventually without success of  connecting with the Tree pipit i headed back to the car  and bumped into another birder who had just seen one and i was soon enjoying a superb Tree Pipit also doing its display flight parachuting from one tree to another .

Tree Pipit.

My final destination was Wier Wood to try and see the earlier reported Wood Sandpipers , on arrival and after  scanning a very distant area where the 2 birds had been earlier seen it was not looking at all promising , i did see a Little Ringed Plover , then  a male Mandarin flying over head , a Common Buzzard drifted over and i was about to give up when i saw one of the Wood Sandpipers feeding along the North Bank , although very distant and the heat haze didn't help it was still a much welcome bird to see ,  top quality birding  !!!