Week 42 01-02-2015 Birds Spotted: 1

Huzzah, my first new bird for two weeks :)
This new bird put me at 130 photographed birds which I'm quite happy with.

Mediterranean Gull
For nearly a year now I have been taking countless pictures of Black-Headed Gulls in the mistaken belief that they were Mediterraneans. After being told time and time again that they were in fact BHG I finally spotted one at Radipole Lake after one of the wardens told me what to look out for.
As you might have guessed they are extremely similar to BHG, but are slightly larger and can be told apart by their white wingtips on the adults. Although only around 600 birds breed here, nearly 2,000 winter here each year.
They like to mingle with BHG, which makes them that little bit harder to spot, but now I know what to look out for I hope to get closer pics than the what I got this week.

Here's a selection of the other birds I saw at Radipole.

Tufted Duck where everywhere, but no Scaup :(

A Moorhen wandered onto the path.

I spotted the Hooded Merganser again.

Marsh Harriers were very abundant.

Three were flying seen from the hide.

Although this one was quite distant.

Lots of Teal were at the hide.

Marsh Harrier again, although I saw this at Lodmoor.

A Black-Headed Gull caught a fish.

A continued to fish like a Tern.

Managed to catch the following shots of a heron. Quite pleased with these.

A Lapwing flew overhead.

I caught the Merganser again on the way back.

I also took a trip over to Lodmoor, in search of Scaup,which I sadly didn't see.

Herring Gulls were plentiful.

As were Shovelers, one of my favourite ducks.

Shelducks were feeding in the distance.

I got a relative close up of an elusive Water Rail.

Lapwings were everywhere.

I scanned the flocks hoping for stray plovers, but no luck.

Although there was plenty of action to enjoy.

Coots were grazing in the nearby fields.

Week 28 26-10-2014 Birds Spotted: 1

Sorry for no update last week but I'm being hit by the harsh reality of the British weather.

One thing I've noticed about creating a blog around bird photography is that you need half decent light in order to stand any chance of getting a half-decent shot. With the weather being largely terrible for the past couple of weeks, I've had less and less opportunities to get out. And once' I'm out the light has generally been so poor I've been forced to use higher iso levels that I'd typically be happy with.

Still I did manage to get one new bird in the past two weeks of general pain and suffering, so let's take a look at it.

Dartford Warbler

I've had so many near misses with this elusive little bird. Every time I've been to Arne, I've heard them, but never been quick enough to get a photo of them. A quick tail flash is all I've normally seen, and I was giving up hope of getting a half decent shot as the weather turn.

Still a visit to Arne on Saturday saw my luck was in and the distinctive churring alerted me to the nearby warbler. I was able to get a good 20 feet towards him (or her) and it showed no signs of being scared. In fact it hung around for a good 3 minutes and only flew off when a young family came close.

This gorgeous bird is only found in a few locations in the UK and Dorset is one of its hotspots. Noted for its long tail, buff breast and red eye markings, it's a very distinctive warbler that has a distinctive churring call. It's very rare due to its limited habitat and there's thought to be just over 3,000 breeding pairs.

This is the closest I could get, around 20 feet away, which shows just how small it is!

And here's a crop of the little fellow.

So that's it for birds this week. I'm now up to 120 photographed birds with another 152 left to find.

Spotted what I suspect is a Meadow Pipit.

A fuzzy Long-Tailed Tit in flight.

A Mistle Thrush. As noted earlier, the day was overcast for the most part :(

A selection of geese and waders at Middlebere.

I also went to Stanpit late Sunday afternoon, but the light was even worse, which made for some pretty disappointing shots.

A group of Brent Geese.

Another that refused to pose for me :)

A group of Lapwings.

Lapwings in flight.

The back of a Redshank.

And a Cormorant.