Wareham Forest and Morden Bog, 25th May

Tree Pipit, Morden Bog, 25th May

It has been a while since I have been able to go birdwatching, and it seems that I have missed what has been a rather poor spring for the southwest (while the east coast seems to be swarming with rarities!). We started at Wareham Forest, where I soon picked up two very overdue new birds for me in Britain- woodlark and tree pipit- not the most exciting pair of lifers! Other than these two species, there was very little around at Wareham, with a kestrel and sparrowhawk being the best of the rest. We then headed over to Morden Bog, where there were a pair of gadwalls and three teals on one of the ponds. A peregrine and several buzzards went over, and more excitingly we found my second ever Dartford warbler skulking in some gorse. I also saw my first hobby of the summer, one of my favourite British birds, and heard my first cuckoo (in fact I heard three of them). It was a very pleasant morning with two lifers for me in Britain and five new birds for the year.

Remarkably, on the 27th, we had a third new garden bird in less than two months, and the sixth of the year, with a garden warbler present. Despite its name, I had never seen one in a garden before!

Another new garden bird

I had a completely unexpected surprise on the 6th with a new garden bird that I could never have predicted- two whimbrel flew over not too high, presumably birds heading north up to the Somerset Levels. It became the 85th species I have seen at Hilfield, and the 59th for the garden this year (since my last post, I have seen Hilfield's first swift and house martins of the summer). Another new species for the year was a green woodpecker  near Hilfield on the 7th. On top of that, a peregrine and a sparrowhawk headed high over Hilfield on the 6th, and there were dozens of swifts and house martins in Sherborne.