Glossy Ibis - Lodmoor Reserve

After several days of rain, the sun was shining with a fairly clear sky. It was still very cold and the wind was blowing quite well.

So where to go. Radipole would be flooded. Ferry Bridge, the tide would have gone out and Portland would be a lot of walking for little to see.

The decision was made that Lodmoor was the only place to go.

This was a good decision as the Glossy Ibis, known to be in the Southern areas of Dorset at the moment, was in attendance. The catch though was it had decided to lay up well out on the Reserve.

However it was worth the photograph just to record it.

The image below is the original type of shot that was obtained using a 600mm lens with a 1.4 converter attached = 840mm. This provides an idea how far the bird was away out on the Reserve.

While I was moving my position to get a better angle, the bird was disturbed as was the surrounding flock of Lapwings. 

Chiffchaffs are now finding more food due to the increase in fly activity brought on by the sunshine.

Chiffchaff

Because of all the recent rain increasing the water levels, there was little ground available for the flock of Golden Plover or the Lapwings to pitch.

The pair of Avocet were still around, but decided to take a break from searching for food. Maybe they are resting up before a flight to somewhere else. I doubt they will be here much longer.

Another wader resting up and hiding away was the Snipe. There are two that I can see in this image and they are sheltering from the wind in long grass.

Canada Geese come and go all the time and also regularly move from one part of the Reserve to another.

Avocet Revisited - Lodmoor

The weather remains quite atrocious most of the time now. 

I was able to visit Lodmoor Reserve, Weymouth in recent days as that rare event of a day when the wind was calm and the rain had stopped for a while. The Reserve water level was quite high, which reduced the roosting areas.

Two Avocet were the main attraction. 

Many of the Golden Plover that had been present for some time were missing and just about 30 remained.

The Avocet 2

 

Robin

Teal Drake landing on water

Grey Heron

A Special Duck Day - GW Teal

Much discussion amongst local Birders and Nature Photographers in the last week or so about the Green-winged Teal Duck oberved at Lodmoor Reserve Weymouth.

I have observed it twice now. Unfortunately each time it was at least 100 metres/110Yards away. Even though I was using an 840mm equivalent lens, I still had to crop the image considerably.

The good thing is I have now learnt how to differentiate between our common Eurasian Teal and the Green-winged Teal. Observing the poor images below and comparing them to the Eurasian Teal below, you can see the Green-winged has a white strip down the Shoulder. The Green-winged is an extremely rare visitor to the United Kingdom.

One bird I did know was this delightful and fast Goldcrest.

Here you can see the Eurasian Teal as discussed above, of which were far more obliging to have their photograph taken.

Male

Female

The loocal Lapwing flock was taking flight quite often.

One nice little surprise was catching this Chiffchaff flying about a tree catching flies in the air.