PB's Got A Week Off... Beware (Day 3)

With the forecast set to be sunny intervals again, the call of the winter divers was too much, and I headed down to Studland to see what I could see. To be honest, the first hour and a bit was rubbish, as were the photos (as you'll be able to see shortly!!) but there was a sudden, unexpected upturn!

A fairly distant Redshank as I headed out to Jerry's Point

And a pair of Meadow Pipits twittering on the opposite side of the sodden track

Look at that sky!! Thanks Snappy for sharing it yesterday, it stayed blue all morning 

There were a few Robins flitting and calling

If you thought the Redshank was a bit distant..... this Gadwall (?) was twice as far (I did say the first shots were rubbish lol)

Hugely cropped Slavonian Grebe, probably 300 yards 3 miles away (who knows... it was a tiny white speck to the naked eye, and this was using the 800mm + 1.4tc)

Equally distant Red Breasted Merganser

Not quite so distant Great Crested Grebe

The female of the Merganser species is less distant than the male!

I think this is a 2nd Slavonian Grebe (apparently 3 were spotted from the Birds Of Poole Harbour Winter Cruise here yesterday)

Catching up with his mates

Canada Goose flying out of the harbour

Gull circling, there were 3 small fishing boats working in the area, possibly keeping the divers away

And another one shouting the odds, as he came in for splashdown.

I felt I'd had enough of tiny white distant specks, and decided to head over the road to see what was on the more open sea. As I wandered, sun in my eyes, I had a funny feeling of being watched. I turned my head and... i'm not sure who was more surprised

She didn't seem to mind me standing looking at her, although she did keep a watchful eye on me, as I moved further along the path, slightly away from her, for a better angle 

As I was busy watching her, something flew across my eyeline.... well, well well.... (I did say things got better) ... surprise number 2

And as quick as he arrived, he was gone!

I could hear a high pitched twee-ing, and finally managed to track down the culprit, Coal Tit

I followed a deer track to the shingle bit of beach being created as the tide receded, hoping some waders may have arrived (often Turnstones, Redshank, Oystercatchers and Dunlin here), and out in the water a rather scruffy Herring Gull

And the same Redshank as previously

I saw a lady and her dog the far side of the Redshank, and thought, hmm.. dog will spook bird, it'll fly this way, and I'll get nice in flight shots.... whilst I waited a Raven flew over, keeping it's eye open!

And then my plan work to perfection, apart from the nice shots bit... that was the one lol

Over the road from the Jerry's Point track is a small bit of scrubby woodland, which although small, always seems to provide something of interest, if you have a little patience. I didn't need patience for the Robin, he was shouting at me from about 30 yards away

I loitered for about 10 minutes, and a flock of Long Tailed Tits came in

Accompanied by a couple of Bullies

They all loitered for a couple of minutes, being busy, busy, busy, then left. I gave it a few minutes and decided to head back and have my lunch. As I was going I was sure I could hear something quiet, and high pitched.....

And then he decided it was time to go

And so ended a definite walk of 2 halves!

Firstly, I need to sincerely thank Snappy for the loan of his sunshine for the day (it's back to heavy cloud forecast for the rest of the week!), and then I'd like to thank you dear readers, for sticking through the drivel to the nicer stuff lol.

Stay Safe All

ps I've copy/pasted this from last nights Birds of Poole Harbour sighting page... the things I could have seen lol

While at Jerry’s Point the Long-tailed Duck was still present alongside 3 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Black-necked Grebe and 3 Great Northern Diver. Off Middle Beach, Studland were 1 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Black-necked Grebe and 1 Great Northern Diver.