Radipole, 30th March

I was in Dorchester for the morning of the 30th, so I decided to make the short(ish) detour to Radipole before heading home. I quickly found the bird I was searching for:

Bonaparte's Gull, Radipole Lake RSPB. This species is a regular vagrant to Britain from North America, and a very pleasing new bird for me.

This birder was too busy checking his camera to notice what a fantastic picture he could have taken of the Bonaparte's Gull right in front of him!

Meanwhile, Spring migrants seem to be in very short supply at the moment. One year ago yesterday, I had this fantastic Redstart appear in the garden: http://gregorsbirdblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/redstart-in-garden.html, followed my a Blackcap on the 30th and my earliest-ever Swallow on the 31st. It really doesn't feel like there will be a repeat this year, though a decent number of Chiffchaffs are in song around the garden. Hopefully, a few more Spring migrants will be joining them soon!

This very nice pair of Red-legged Partridges have been spending a lot of time in the garden recently.