Rainbows, Deer, Kingfishers and Marsh Harriers

It's been a windy and rainy week down in Weymouth. Parts of the reserve were flooded.and paths waterlogged. RSPB Volunteer, Pete Clinch, captured this superb double rainbow over the "Centre Bridge" next to the Discovery Centre on Monday afternoon.

Pete set his his trail camera at the top end of the reserve in the new restoration area which will be open to the public just before Christmas. 

At first glance you would think there was nothing in the above trail camera photo but take a closer look in the top right corner. You will just be able to make out a pair of eyes belonging to a young female Roe Deer.

In this photo you can just see the outline of the deer's back, back legs and rear end with the white tail. The large white patch in the foreground of the photo is the flash being triggered.

In this image you can just see the deer's white rump disappearing into the background. Al the deer photos were captured at about 18:00 pm.

Photo Credits: All Deer images by Pete Clinch.

During our peak time of rain and flooding the resident Kingfisher didn't come and sit on her usual perch. The waters were too rough and fast flowing to see and fish. The Kingfisher returned when the weather and the river had calmed down.

RSPB Volunteer, Martin Jones-Gill, captured these images of the Kingfisher back on her perch and successfully catching a small fish.

Photo Credits: All Kingfisher images by Martin Jones-Gill.

Martin also took these superb photos of the male Marsh Harriers flying over the reserve. You can see the male's distinctive grey panels on the wings and the grey tale.

These photos show the female which is more brown in colour than the male. 

The pair were frequently seen during the flooding hunting for any unfortunate casualties. Folk in the Discovery Centre were seeing the Marsh Harriers flying a circuit around Radipole every 60-90 minutes.

Photo Credits: All Marsh Harrier images by Martin Jones-Gill.

This morning when our Discovery Centre Assistant arrived to open up the Centre the Centre, he was treated to a flock of Mediterranean Gulls. The flock stayed at Radipole all day, over 250 birds were counted. I snapped this one from inside the Discovery Centre this afternoon.

STOP PRESS

This afternoon we received reports of a flock of Barnacle Geese over at Lodmoor.and a flock of Bewick Swans at the top end of Radipole Lake.