Dorset Trip - Part 6 - Teamwork

After we had finished seeing the sun up at Portland Bill as I reported in Part 2 of this series, we drove down off the Bill, along past Chesil Beach and pulled in at Ferrybridge.  This can be quite a good spot for various wader and shore birds across towards the Fleet behind Chesil Beach, such as Ringed, Little Ringed and the occasional Kentish Plover.

As we pulled into the car park, we saw a Little Egret a bit further up on a patch of water that I had not seen before.

Pulling the car to a halt with the drivers side away from the target, I was able to get out quietly and unseen and belly crawl up to a suitable location without being seen.

The Little Egret was the obvious character being big and white but looking further around there were also Black Headed Gull and to my joy, a male Red Breasted Merganser.  The RBM's have always eluded me photographically when I had seen them on many occasions in Scotland so it was great to see this one fishing away like crazy.

My first concern though was that the Little Egret wouldn't stay away and it was difficult getting clean shots, but after a few minutes of watching rather than thinking about the images, it all became clear to me.

As the RBM was dashing around chasing prey, it was also disturbing other prey and it was this that the Egret was focusing on.  On occasions, the roles were reversed, so it was great fun to see the teamwork in action.

 An unlikely team  pairing

 Moment of impact

'

 Preening - 'Its under there somewhere'

 BH Gull in full mature plumage

 Male Red Breasted Merganser

 Immediate foreground colour is the reflection of the Chesil Beach shingle bank

 Juggling a Shore Crab for breakfast

Still struggling - it took it quite a while to get it sorted

All in all, a very pleasant time with some great light and strong sun on my back as I lay down watching.

Martin

Dorset Trip Report - Part 5 - Sika Deer at Arne

Following on from previous parts of this mini trip report, this part is slightly out of sequence chronologically but here it is anyway.

I went to the coast for the sunrise but sadly there was no sun.  The light just went from cold dark blue grey, to cold dark grey to cold lighter grey, so I wont bore you with the horrible flat light images that I took.

After going back to the hotel and a wonderful breakfast, we went across to the Arne, stopping off on the way to see Dartford warbler (briefly) and Stonechat.

The light stayed flat and with a cool easterly breeze, in marked contrast to the hot bright day before, many of the birds were not playing ball.  Walking across to the saltmarsh, the Deer were going to be the best chance, and there were plenty there, along with a few hundred Brent Geese.

The Deer at Arne are one of the few herds of Sika Deer in the UK.  Originally introduced to the UK from its native range in Asia in the latter half of the 19th century, they can be seen in a few locations in the UK.  The Arne is as good as anywhere, and with the heathland or saltmarsh as habitat it makes for some interesting background for them to be photographed in.

Generally a much 'dirtier' brown that the native Roe Deer, they are also display the characteristic white heart shape round the rear end.

So here are a few for you 

 On the beach with Brent Geese in background

 Lonely in the grey 'murk'

Martin

Dorset Trip Report - Part 3 - Spoonbills

I suppose I should have tagged this post as part 1 and this post as part 2, so if you can  forgive me for that then this is part 3.

In the same location that we saw the Long Billed Dowitcher, there were also a couple of  Spoonbills.  Now I have seen these on a few occasions in the UK, but usually at great distance.

These two weren't particularly close, and the images are quite substantially cropped, and with a strong heat haze, the image quality is more degraded than I would prefer.

However, these two poses do show off their main feature very nicely.

Still more birds, deer and sunsets to come in future posts for you from this short trip

Martin

Two Lifetime firsts and a UK first

On our travels this week, Jac and I popped down to Dorset for a couple of days, took a look at some the RSPB reserves and saw a few sights.  I guess it might be considered a bit of a challenge to ask your new wife to get up at 02.30 in the morning so that we can drive three hours to see a sunrise.  Well I did, she did, so we did.  I love driving at night as there is no other traffic around and you get to see quite a bit of wildlife en route.  On the journey, we saw Barn Owl, Muntjac and Roe Deer, vole, fox and my favourite of all, and it has been a good few years since I last saw one in the wild, was a Weasel.

I will share a few of the landscape/seascape images in future blogs when I have had a chance to process them.

Meanwhile, here are a few of some firsts for me.

First up is a Hooded Merganser - now not unusual for Dave, as this recent blog shows.  But most unusual for the UK, as it is a North American species.  Apparantly it arrived at RSPB Radipole about three years ago and has stayed resident ever since.  Is it wild, is it an escapee? - who knows but it was a real beauty.

It was quite at home with other Tufted Duck and Pochard.  Other great sights we had at this fabulous reserve were Water Vole, Water Rail, singing Cetti's Warblers, Sand Martins - first of the year, Reed Warblers - first of the year, two pairs of dancing Great Crested Grebes.  Sadly no Beared Tits or Bittern.  The cold winter has had a bad effect on the Beardies.

A mile or so east of Radipole Lake is RSPB Lodmoor and another lifetime first for me was seen here.

This Long Billed Dowitcher was a bit distant, so it was a bit of a crop, but fabulous to see.

Also at Lodmoor were a couple of Spoonbills, which I will bring in future posts.

The final first is a UK first for me.  I have seen this species before while in Spain, but never in the UK.   There are usually a few records each year.  The lady warden in Radipole at the RSPB said that one had been seen up at Portland Bill the previous day, and as we were heading back there in the afternooon to get some sunset shots thought we might have a look.  But it would be a needle in a haystack moment.....or so I thought.

Arriving at a parking space just after the Bird Observatory, I got out the car, caught some movement in my eye in fornt of the car parked ahead, peeked round the corner and there it was, a Hoopoe grubbing around by the kerbside, hence the visual intrusion of the road and kerb in the images. 

I grabbed my camera quickly, shot in brilliant bright horrible light, and handheld only, got off a few shots.

I had to move quickly as there were a couple of runners coming down the hill and were going to run straight by it.  I stopped them for 30 seconds, but sadly they scared the bird away from me, and I never saw it again.

I guess I will take the luck of seeing it within ten seconds of arriving.

While we were there we saw more Sand Martins and Meadow Pipits as recent migrant arrivals.  

A fabulous day in Dorset - more to come soon

Martin