Another new garden bird!

Finally, there has been some good migration at Hilfield this weekend. Swallows are starting to pass over at a good rate, and the blackcaps have finally returned, with two in trees where the willow warblers were two days ago (they all seem to have moved on). The biggest surprise, however, was a single sand martin that passed over. An unexpected new bird for the garden! Another sand martin appeared on the 15th, which showed much better than the previous one, as it feasted on insects low above the garden.
On top of that, for the first time since a weasel last summer, we had a new garden mammal. It was a hare that briefly appeared in the field opposite the house.

With chiffchaffs, willow warblers, blackcaps and swallows around, it's only a matter of time before the cuckoos, hobbys, nightingales and swifts return- even more soon should be our first house martins and whitethroats of summer- I'm already looking forward to it!

First garden spring migrants

Finally our first spring migrants of the year arrived today, with five swallows, six chiffchaffs and up to eight willow warblers (a garden record!)seen from the garden. On top of that a peregrine and sparrowhawk went over, and there were good numbers of stock doves, goldcrests and long-tailed tits around. That, combined with meadow pipit and collared dove, took the garden year list to 54.

Stone-curlews!

We started the morning at Portland, hoping to chance upon the long-eared owl, but we were sadly unsuccessful. There were very few birds around, the best being two wheatears. As we headed back towards Weymouth, we found a ring ouzel in a roadside field- allowing far better views than the one I saw on the 24th March.

Ring Ouzel, Southwell, Portland 6.4.13

With news of five stone-curlews at Butterstreet Cove, we rushed over there. After about 45 minutes of searching, we found them- six of them! This number of stone-curlews together in Dorset is unprecedented- part of a mini-influx across the south of the country right now. It was my first of the species, although they bear a great resemblance to the spotted dikkops I see in Kenya. Their British population decreased by 85% between the 1940s and 1980s- but thanks to the RSPB, their numbers are now slowly increasing. This mini-influx is certainly a promising sign. Unfortunately they were too distant for any decent photos, but I'm not complaining!

I know- it's shockingly bad, but it was the only photo I got of it that was recognisable as a stone-curlew!

In the field with them was a wheatear, and nearby some linnets, and two overdue year-ticks in shelduck and redshank.

We then headed to Lodmoor, where we failed to locate the spoonbills, but did find four little ringed plovers (again part of a small influx currently in the south of England), and our first swallow of the year. That, combined with the song of chiffchaffs, gave a real sense of spring having finally arrived.

At Radipole, we found the hooded merganser immediately- debate over whether the bird is genuinely wild will never end, but my view is that it is wild. We failed to find the garganey at North Hide, and overall, there were very few birds around. The best we could find were two singing willow warblers, and two more swallows over, along with dozens of sand martins.

Hooded Merganser, Radipole, 6.4.13