Pete's Favourite Things

A morning walk around the RSPB reserve at Lodmoor. making my way along the northern edge there are some common waterfowl on the pools in the reed-bed.

On the west scrape I find a Ruff and a large party of Lapwing. One bird however is drawing a lot of attention. It is a Lesser Yellowlegs, so called because it is the smaller of two similar species, the other being Greater Yellowlegs. This American Wading bird has been wintering here for some weeks now. It is a very obliging bird.

Moving on down the west scrape I find Common Snipe, Dunlin and Little Grebe along with a party of Mallard who seem to think everyone is going to feed them. I arrive at the the southern scrape and find a Little Egret, a Grey Heron and some Common Snipe.

On my way back to the cottage, I cross the middle of the reserve on Beachdown way, which bisects the reserve from south to north. There has been a wintering Yellow-Browed Warbler on this path and having got some information from a local birder on its favoured location, I sit down to wait. After about 20 minutes I hear its distinctive call and then see the bird fly from a tree. Then there is silence. About 10 minutes later it started calling again and I can see it madly dashing about in a tree in front of me. This seems to be a characteristic of this species. I get some good, if fleeting views.

In the afternoon Sue and I went to the Chesil Beach observation point. The tide is out so there is not much close into our position. Out on the water, I can see a couple of Red-Breasted Merganser along with gulls and Cormorants.

Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca)
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)
Little Grebe [sp] (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk [sp] (Accipiter nisus)
Western Marsh Harrier [sp] (Circus aeruginosus)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Eurasian Oystercatcher [sp] (Haematopus ostralegus)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Black-tailed Godwit [sp] (Limosa limosa)
Ruff (Calidris pugnax)
Dunlin [sp] (Calidris alpina)
Common Snipe [sp] (Gallinago gallinago)
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Mediterranean Gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus)
Mew Gull [sp] (Larus canus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Rock Dove [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Bearded Reedling [sp] (Panurus biarmicus)
Cetti’s Warbler [sp] (Cettia cetti)
Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus)
Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
White Wagtail [sp] (Motacilla alba)
Eurasian Bullfinch [sp] (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)