Weymouth (01-05 November)

Megan and I had to cancel a week's holiday at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme in early September with the introduction of quarantine rules in UK and the threat, which I'm not sure materialised, of France following suit. Same time next year, hopefully. We booked a week in Weymouth at the start of November as a substitute. I planned to visit Unst in October although Scottish Covid restrictions preventing staying with friends cancelled that too. It would have been a good year to be there but at least I didn't miss a rubythroat. Again, hopefully next year. The fall-back of staying with another friend in Redcar fell the same way, pesky northerners going into tier three, and although Sussex had its moments we were ready to get away. 

Saturday 31 October. After a quick and almost birdless walk around Mill Hill with Cookie we drove down to Weymouth breaking the journey at Kingston Lacy where a flock of 17 Long-tailed Tits were seen and a Raven heard. Talk of an impending national lockdown had us somewhat on edge but we decided to go and come back early if necessary. We arrived in a very windswept Weymouth as the light was fading and had a wander around in the fading light to get our bearings.

Sunday 01 November. We were staying in a cottage in the centre of Weymouth just five minutes walk in from the beach and a similar distance to Radipole. In the morning we walked around the town and on to Nothe which appeared birdless, gale force gusts of wind not helping. In the afternoon I took Cookie around  Radipole seeing 36 Mediterranean Gulls and 13 Long-tailed Tits and hearing 2-3 Cetti's Warblers. The reeds were blowing around vigorously.

Mediterranean Gulls in a Black-headed Gull flock at Radipole car park, the only place they were consistently outnumbered

Monday 02 November. We walked along the seafront to Lodmoor which was a little sheltered from the continuing gale force winds. There I saw 11 Black-tailed Godwits, 6 Common Snipe, 151 mostly adult Mediterranean Gulls, a Marsh Harrier, Kingfisher and 5 Ravens. In the afternoon I took Cookie around Radipole again seeing 98 Mediterranean Gulls, 12 Grey Herons and 66 Pied Wagtails. Five of about 7 Mute Swans with visible legs had yellow colour-rings while 2 of the Mediterranean Gulls in Radipole car park were also colour-ringed but I was unable to read either before they were flushed.

Megan and Cookie enjoying the sun on a sheltered Weymouth prom

Cormorant getting the better of an eel at Lodmoor

Mediterranean Gulls and others at Lodmoor

the front Mediterranean Gull flew leaving its colour-ring unread

Marsh Harrier at Lodmoor playing gull flusher extraordinaire 

Mute Swan FOA at Radipole

CKX

BNU

DOK

ZUK

Tuesday 03 November. I took Cookie to Radipole soon after dawn adding three colour-rings to my selection, as two were on juveniles its likely that they are all local birds. We visited Maiden Castle seeing a Stonechat, 400 Linnets and 4+ Corn Buntings in fields along the approach road. Maiden Castle is the site of the largest iron age hill fort in England with impressive multiple ramparts enclosing a grazed grassy area the size of 50 football pitches completely denuded of other vegetation. It wasn't surprising that the only birds seen while walking around its circumference were a few Meadow Pipits keeping their heads down in the wind. Cissbury is smaller, the site of the second largest hill fort in England, with single ramparts but to my mind is more impressive with its sea views and definitely better for birds with its bushes, especially around the old flint mines. In the afternoon the wind had dropped a bit and we all walked around Radipole seeing 14 Mediterranean Gulls, Kingfisher and a juvenile Bearded Tit. Water Rail, Cetti's Warbler and Chiffchaff were heard. I returned with Cookie at dusk seeing a further 230 Mediterranean Gulls on the lake, in the car park and flying over to roost. Those in the car park included White 3796 and Green RV78 which I managed to read before they were disturbed. What odds they were yesterday's birds although there are likely to be many other colour-ringed birds around. 

Mute Swan CKY at Radipole

COC

COD

Megan and Cookie at Maiden Castle

Rainbow over Radipole

Mediterranean Gulls on Radipole Lake

Mediterranean Gull 3796 at Radipole, thought to be from Antwerpen

Mediterranean Gull RV78, thought to be from the Vendee, France

Wednesday 04 November. Before breakfast I took Cookie around Radipole seeing another colour-ringed Mute Swan, 53 Tufted Duck, Water Rail, 3 Common Snipe, 8 Little Grebes, 18 Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Cetti's Warblers and a Stonechat with a Bearded Tit heard in the same area as yesterday's sighting. Despite the wind being much less it was keeping its head down. We drove to Corfe Castle where we had booked a timed entry slot. Impressive ruins but again no sea view. We are spoilt in Shoreham with sea views most places we go, it's not called Shoreham-by-Sea for nothing. We saw 2 Ravens, a Black Redstart and 3 Stonechats around the castle before driving to Arne. I'd not been for over 45 years, when Dartford Warbler was the main prize. We walked the trail through pleasant woodland to the Shipstall Hill viewpoint and looked out over Poole Harbour. Little was evident, not helped by the presence of a few speedboats and a Chinook. I saw 45 Brent Geese, over 100 Oystercatchers, 2 Sandwich Terns, a few Little Egrets and at great range with maximum magnification what were probably Avocets along a distant creek. I'll probably leave it another 45 years before revisiting. A dusk visit to Radipole with Cookie made up for any disappointment at Arne with staggering numbers of Mediterranean Gulls coming in from the northwest and either heading east low over the town or settling on the lake before so doing, presumably to roost in Weymouth Bay. At times they were coming in too quickly or in too large flocks to count individually and I estimated at least 1400 Mediterranean Gulls were involved. Flocks were entirely or predominantly made up of Mediterranean Gulls and most were adults. Fortunately for me they dried up before the light went completely. Very few gulls were in the car park although about 75 mobile Pied Wagtails were. We decided to leave tomorrow rather than staying to the weekend although we'd been given conflicting lockdown rules. We'd had a nice break, our first since February and hopefully it wouldn't be as long to our next.  

Megan and Cookie at Corfe Castle

looking towards Poole Harbour

Cookie in her dog cave not enjoying occasional fireworks outside

Thursday 05 November. Before breakfast I took Cookie around Radipole where I seemed to have exhausted the showy Mute Swan colour-ringed parade. We saw 16 Shoveler, 60 Teal, 58 Tufted Duck, 7 Common Snipe, 4 adult Mediterranean Gulls, Cetti's Warblers and a Grey Wagtail with a Water Rail, Bearded Tit and several Chiffchaffs heard. After breakfast we packed and left, calling in at Lodmoor for half an hour or so. There we saw 14 Black-tailed Godwits, a Dunlin, 18 Common Snipe, 4 Mediterranean Gulls, a Buzzard and a Kingfisher. Traffic coming home was light and we were back at lunchtime. 

Kingfisher at Lodmoor

Common Snipe at Lodmoor

a spectacular bird when seen well

Friday 06 November. Megan and I took Cookie for a leisurely walk around Mill Hill. It was  warm out of the wind and in the morning sunshine and we saw Stock Dove, Buzzard, Kestrel, 2 Sky Larks, 8 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Chiffchaffs, Goldcrest, 11 Blackbirds, 2 Song Thrushes, 13 Robins, 2 Chaffinches, 3 Bullfinches (1 male), 6 Linnets and a Goldfinch.