My first Wheatear of the year.
A trip to Wyke Regis in Dorset on Saturday proved very successful , i was hoping to connect with several target birds and after getting some very helpful directions , i was soon at the Humes Yellow Browed Warbler location , on route to this bird i had several Wheatears in the nearby fields , really smart looking birds , anyhow back to the Humes , i joined another couple of birders who had already been staking out the site but with no luck.
We spread out when i heard some one call out he had it , not really great views were had , all a bit to brief as the bird flew into dense cover however good enough to get a positive id , this was only my second ever record of this species , i saw the Reculver bird back in 1999.
Richards Pipit .
I spent quite a bit of time here but the Humes never re appeared , so i headed of to check out the surrounding fields for the over wintering Richards Pipit , i finally made my way back to near the camp area where it seems to be seen mostly and was greeted with the news it was there so without haste i set my scope up and was soon enjoying good views of this impressive Pipit.
Long yellowish / orange legs . very upright stance and heavy billed , i really liked the way it run quite fast along the ground stooping forward before running .
Another record shot of the Richards Pipit.
I had a good time here and other birds of note were a single Swallow and 4 Sandwich Terns , there were several vocal Chiffchaffs plus a large raft of Red Breasted Mergansers in the Fleet .
I decided to head of to Radipole Lake and made my way to the North Hide , there were several Cetti's Warblers calling but as usual not showing themselves , i reached the hide and was hoping to connect with the 2 Glossy Ibis that had been residing there of late however they had just been flushed prior to me getting there by a couple of Marsh Harriers.
Well i decided to give it some time and enjoy the birds that were on offer , there was a really smart Kingfisher perched near to the sand martin sand bank plus a Cetti's finally gave it self up s with a brief view from a nearby bramble bush , there were several Teal and a couple of fine looking Stonechats moving from bush to bush , i had been in the hide for nearly an hour and then my patience paid of when the two Glossy Ibis flew in and gave super views .
2 Glossy Ibis .
These were really great to see , one bird looked in stunning plumage which i am sure was an adult , the other bird possibly a first winter / juv did not look so bright . I then moved onto Pennington Flash and added a good selection of waders including : Spotted Redshank 5 , Greenshank 1 , Ruff 1 and several Golden Plover , i also saw at least 3 summer plumage Water Pipits which were simply stunning to see , i also added 2 summer plumage Med Gulls .
Male Dartford Warbler 2011.
My final destination of the day was Beaulie road in the New Forest, i went to a area of gorse i knew from last year for Dartford Warbler , unfortunately the area has had some fire damage so the prospects were not looking good , i checked out the area which seemed to be more likely for them and after a few minutes i was not having any luck , i gave it abit more time and thankfully i eventually saw a smart male and female , i never really got great views as they were keeping quite low down in the gorse . I decided to leave them in peace and went home very happy.
Comma at Wyke Regis .
Of note i saw several butterflies today including this Comma plus several Peacock , 1 Small Tortoiseshell , 1 Small White & 1 Speckled Wood.
