Weymouth October 1st

This was the start of a long weekend's birding break to Weymouth with my friends John and Janet. After a uneventful but long three hour train journey down to Weymouth we walked the short distance to our regular B&B to check in. A few minutes later we headed off down the road to Lodmoor. The weather was still fine although the breeze had picked up.

We decided on taking the anti-clockwise route around the whole reserve and started off in the SW corner. We had Sandwich Tern calling and one was picked up circling high with a Med Gull yet within a few minutes there were three on the deck and three more still flying around and the number of Med Gulls was in double figures. Out in the middle was a Great Egret and it didn't take long before we'd found another amongst the Little Egrets.

Sandwich Tern

Waders were fairly thin on the ground to start with: a few distant Black-wits and a single Snipe but as we went to the next lookout we added Common Sand and Greenshank. John picked up an interesting pigeon flying along the back and got me on it and it turned out to be a Turtle Dove, an unexpected year tick for both of us which I thought we'd missed this year. There were lots of dragonflies out in the afternoon sunshine.

Migrant Hawker

We stopped to look into Weymouth Bay but seeing nothing more than some very distant gulls and terns among the moored up cruise ships we carried on up the Eastern side. Another Great Egret flew in and Water Rail was heard calling. A Marsh Harrier showed well and kept flushing the waterbirds.

Marsh Harrier

A few Bearded Tits pinged in the reedbed and the odd Chiffchaff and Blackcap called from the adjacent trees. Heading down the Western side the light was more favourable and we stopped several times to scan across the marsh and chat to the locals. Waders on this side included a small flock of Dunlin and some dazzling Lapwings in superb light.

Lapwing

The egret tally kept rising with several Littles feeding and at one point we could see five Great Egrets showing how common they'd recently become. Med Gull numbers were also up and the final tally was at least 90.

Little Egret

Various Great Egrets

Mediterranean Gulls

A mostly white bird with dark wings and a red bill looked like a gull to the naked eye but soon revealed itself to be an odd Ruff, apparently this individual has been present for about five years and has become whiter each year.

Leucistic Ruff

Back at the end we had another scan of the bay but apart from a Shag and some very hardy swimmers there was nothing new of note so we headed back to our digs and a short rest before heading out to Wetherspoons for a well earned pint and a fish 'n' chips dinner.