Late autumn is always exciting as you still never know what’s going to turn up. With the main bulk of autumn migration well and truly over, certainly for sub-Saharan African migrants it seems ludicrous to think a bird like a Garden Warbler could still appear but that’s what happened up at our ringing site on Ballard this morning. Avery late and lost individual! Also ringed on Ballard were 4 Fieldfare, 7 Goldcrest, 9 Chiffchaff, 2 Firecrest, 3 Blackcap and 2 Song Thrush. Off Middle Beach, Studland there were 2 Black-necked Grebe and 4 Common Scoter and off the Brownsea southern shore there was no sign of the Black Guillemot sadly but the 1st winter Eider was there again along with 7 Black-necked Grebe, c15 Red-breasted Merganser and 2 Sandwich Tern. In Shell Bay the Slavonian Grebe was present again along with 13 Fieldfare overhead and 3 Sandwich Tern. Off Jerry’s Point there were 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, 9 Red-breasted Merganser, 27 Great Crested Grebe and 45 Dunlin. From the Middlebere hide there were some good counts of 364 Avocet, 284 Teal, 23 Grey Plover, 5 Spotted Redshank, 291 Dunlin, 208 Lapwing and 15 Curlew. At Bestwall there were just 2 Cattle Egret today with another 7 in a field along Nutcrack Lane and at Lytchett Fields 281 Lapwing, 133 Redshank, 13 Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 200 Teal and 231 Wigeon were in the bay.
What started off as a promising day, with overcast sky’s and an easterly air flow, soon descended into…
Find out moreDespite the rain, which ended up lasting aaaallllllll day, there was still plenty of great birding top be…
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