THE DORSET YEAR LIST BEGINS

 I was up before sunrise breakfast eaten and flask of tea and sandwich made and I was all set for a day of birding in my home county of Dorset.

I made up my mind the first stop was going to be at the Saxon Roundabout Wareham for the Glossy Ibis. 

Though on arriving there was no sign of them in the field, so I jumped back into the car and headed off to Ridge with the hope that the Russian White fronted Geese would be in the field along the Arne road. I was in luck as in the field there were Canada Geese and 37 wonderful Russian White fronted Geese.

Russian White fronted Goose

After this brief stop I made my way to Studland via cutting through Heartland Moore. This was an interesting drive. As along the narrow road I had deer jumping out in front of me Roe Deer by the cattle grid as you come down the hill of Slepe and Sika Deer as driving up to Scotland Farm and beyond.

Parking on Ferry Road near the gate for Red Horn Quay I made way down to the watch point. Hoping that yesterdays couple of Smew were still about, but talking to some the guys already there an scanning Brand's bay and the area off Goat Horn it was evident  that they were no longer here. So glad I went on the 31st December as they were lifers for me and the drake is a real smart bird. I suppose  I can take that as a first lesson in big year birding, that one must go and see the birds when news breaks if it is possible as they just might not be there the next day or gone within hours! Though it was good to get Slavonian Grebe and Great Northern Diver which were fairly close to Red Horn Quay.

Slavonian Grebe

Great Northern Diver

While waiting to see if the Smew was going to turn up one of the birders found a White tailed Eagle sat in a tree on the far side of Brand's bay. So I made an attempt to phone scope the bird, which did not come out that well most likely due to the distance and the wind.

 This  brown blob is the White tailed Eagle

Having meet with a couple of local birders, who  gave me directions for another place to see the Glossy Ibis and Tundra Bean Goose. I decided to go and see if I could find them at these places. Unfortunately the Ibis were still not happening for me as I could not see them at the location.

So with the location of the Bean Goose at Winterbourne Monkton I set off in that direction. 

I knew my way to the roundabout near Dorchester were you turn off for Weymouth, but from there I was very unsure. As I made my way along the Weymouth relief road I spotted the sign for Winterbourne Monkton and turned right. Due to my map reading skills being well lets just say rubbish to be polite. I drove along this road and past the geese unknowingly and ended up on a road called Church Street and some village. So I pulled off the road into a layby with a bridge in front of me and a sign saying to Batcoombe straight ahead and all other routes right. The road going over the bridge I thought might be the relief road but as I felt I was completely lost. I sent an SOS message out on the local Whatapps Group asking for assistance for location of the geese. Within minutes I had a call and several pin drops of the location. So I drive ahead turned right and was back on the relief road and heading back towards Dorchester. Then on my left the sign for Winterbourne Monkton appeared so I turned off and was back on the road I had driven along. So driving slowly I came across a car pulled in off the road and someone along the hedge line with a scope. So with the help of the local net work ( Whatsapp Group) I managed to find the 7 Tundra Bean Geese. I would like just like to  say THANK EVERYONE for the assistance in helping me locate these geese for my year list.

 Tundra Bean Goose

 

After this is it was now late afternoon and I promised the wife I would be home round teatime and I wanted to finish the day at my local patch Longham Lakes. So I set off in that direction and arriving at the Patch at 2pm which gave me two hours to walk round. There was not a great real difference in the birds from a few weeks past. So it was just a case of scanning the Tufted Duck for a lurking Scaup or Ringed necked Duck but no such luck. The best bird was the long staying Black necked Grebe.

So I called it a day with only 49 species seen I should of made more of the birds i saw hoping along the hedges but thought most likely Blue/Great Tits and though I can tick those off anytime.

The long staying Longham Lakes Black necked Grebe