While cutting my way through dense carr at the top of Radipole (to access and fell willows growing into and damming the river), I noticed a number of small fish left stranded by last weeks retreating flood water. I was able to identify them as sunbleak a species first identified on Radipole in the winter of 2005 when we found a number of examples stranded in the reed stubble after completing our conservation reed cut…

At the risk of boring our readers, I am going to blog about a few brown ducks. Scaup are actually quite scarce visitors to Radipole, they often spend the winter at Lodmoor but are often distant which means views are usually not that good. But occasionally we get them at Radipole which means that views can be a quite good and we can get pictures! Today there were two first winter birds, one male and one female. Adult drakes…

While myself and Anne were out at the north end of Radipole this morning and there were birds everywhere! Water Pipit and a flurry of Bearded Tit greeted us upon arrival then shortly after Anne picked up the female Marsh Harrier just above our heads! While we watched her hunting she was joined by another smaller bird - a male. They then proceeded with some mid-air acrobatic displays before heading north separately. These birds…

After a weeks sojourn to Devonshire our American friend has decided to return to Dorset and has been showing very well on the Lodmoor salt marsh  the past few days. Despite almost continuous heavy rain and gales Allan and a few other intrepid photographers managed to get some nice views from the shelter during a brief sunny interlude yesterday.

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 Let's hope that the bird remains over the weekend to give those birders…

Well I said I looked forward to some hard work! And the Radipole ditches certainly lived up to expectation with recently cut reed hauled from water to bank to prevent it rotting in situ. Luckily last night’s manic storm had passed and we were gifted some beautiful afternoon sunshine.

And just in case you didn’t believe me here we are having a great time in the stinky mud!

Yesterday I started my 5 month residential placement with the team here at Radipole, and it was certainly a memorable day! News of an American wader, a Long-billed Dowitcher seen at Lodmoor meant that was our first port of call. As we walked the reserve great flight views of Bittern were had, along with plenty of waders and wildfowl but no Dowitcher!

Nick, Anne and I resumed the reserve tour with Radipole in the afternoon.…

Whilst showing Will our new residential volunteer around Lodmoor this morning we bumped into Chris Milner (long standing volunteer and all-round wildlife buff) who showed us this extraordinary set of images of a stoat predating a rabbit.  A David and Goliath styled encounter that David invariably wins. Further evidence if any were needed that the Weymouth Reserves are currently awash with these small, game predators. Red…

That’s a question I've been asked several times today due to a Yellow legged Gull that didn't have yellow legs. Why hasn't it got yellow legs you might ask? Well, it’s because it’s a first winter bird, i.e. a bird hatched this year and now moulted from juvenile plumage to first winter plumage. Yellow legged gulls are not very common at Radipole which is surprising given that they breed in numbers in France and other places…

Perhaps the best part of these shorter days from my perspective is that you don't have to get up at an ungodly hour to appreciate the best of the day. Out the house at first light and had a lovely stroll around Radipole as the rising sun painted the scene the deepest orange. Happened upon the concrete bridge weasel - my third weasel sighting in consecutive days. I can't think that in the past I have seen weasel in three…

Stoats and weasels aren't the easiest of mammals to see but today we've had at least three stoat (two on Melcombe Path Lodmoor, one on Radipole) and a weasel (below) seen across the Weymouth Wetlands. Not entirely sure why they are so many visible at the moment, so if you've got any ideas please leave us a comment at the bottom of this blog post.

This weasel appears to have a burrow right next to the path…

If you wanted to see Water Rail this afternoon you couldn't fail if you spent 5 minutes looking out of the visitor centre. Past winters have provided us with great views of them wandering past the window but today individual decided to spend most of its time out in the open posing for all to see.

Our friendly Merlin paid us another visit this afternoon. It was first seen sitting on top of the visitor centre window…

It’s not very often that you get a merlin visit your bird feeder, but this afternoon that happened to us! If you've been to the visitor centre you would have noticed our little bird feeder hanging from the window. It’s usually home to several sparrow though there could have been one less if the Merlin was a little quicker. Following its attack on the sparrows it sat outside the visitor centre for a few minutes before…

Received some news over the past weeks about a few more colour ringed gull sightings.

Most recent was the information for a Herring Gull which was seen on the 27th September. It was originally ringed at Pitsea Landfill Site in Essex on 6th March 2010. It was the first sighting of this bird since it was ringed.

Recent Med Gull sightings include R60N (Green). This was also the first sighting of this bird which…

No offence to the good old Mute Swan but Whooper and Bewick Swans are by far more exciting and interesting. Dorset doesn't get many of either species with Whooper being the rarer so you can imagine our surprise when a family of four Whooper Swans landed outside the visitor centre window at Radipole Lake. This was yesterday morning and spent most of the day at the back of the pool. They then relocated to the Buddleia Lake…

The restoration is now in its the last few days, with only a couple of ditches still left to restore and the work so far is looking wonderful.  Our bittern pool , which was completely overgrown with vegetation, has now been restored to something like it's former glory.

Once the water levels come up again in the spring the area in the middle will be submerged, providing just the right conditions for good strong reedmace…

If you've been wanting up to the minute news from our RSPB reserves in Weymouth, now you can! We have started our very own twitter page. It’s real easy to follow us, just look up RSPBweymouth on twitter and follow us. We'll post about bird sightings as they happen and all the exciting news about the reed bed restoration works which are almost finished!

Also worth mentioning our Bearded tit walk this Sunday…

Surely a sign of the changing of the seasons is the steady build up of starling numbers which communally roost in the reedbeds on both reserves. Although only a few hundred strong at present their numbers will begin to gradually increase into four figures as more birds arrive from the continent. The swirling, shoal-like movements of these 'murmurations' is always a spectacle at dusk and often attracts sparrowhawks and…

With lower than normal water levels in North Pool the resident fish population is unusually susceptable to keen eyed fishers such as this grey heron snapped by our volunteer Allan Neilson over the weekend. In the first set it is struggling with a small (jack) pike which it later freed (they don't often practice catch and release) and the second of a roach which it happily consumed. Thanks for the photos Allan.

Irrupting certainly isn't a word that we would have used to describe the bearded tit numbers at Radipole a few months but its all changing as of today! A few small flocks have been seen over the past few weeks but today’s walk to the visitor centre revealed quite a few bearded tits. I could hear several flocks as I approached the visitor centre and so far this morning a flock of at least 12 have been flying around outside…

Spent the best part of yesterday in a meeting, so when I heard about a Grey Phalarope at Lodmoor I was particularly keen to pop in on the way home. A quick scan across the water revealed the little wader feeding busily on the water with some Black headed Gull. These waders have quite a hard life. They breed in the arctic and spend the winter month drifting on the Atlantic Ocean. Yesterday’s strong wind and rain must have…