WEYMOUTH WALK – RADIPOLE LAKE – RODDEN TRAIL – PORTLAND HARBOUR FROM SANDSFOOT CASTLE – YEO VALLEY MEADOWS FROM THE GARDEN
WEATHER: beautiful sunny spring day, very light winds top temp 22C
We arrived at Radipole Lake at 10:30am it was buzzing, alive with activity and noise. Bird song rang from all corners, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, Chaffinches, Robins, Wrens and Blackbirds sang from the bushes and trees whilst Reed Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler sang from more discrete areas of the scrub and reedbeds.
THE VISITOR'S CENTRE AT RSPB RADIPOLE LAKE
I searched from the wooden bridge near the Visitor’s centre for a possible BONAPARTE’S GULL! Don’t laugh!! Two are in the area and can appear anywhere, however, none were present on the main lagoon. I saw all the usual suspects but only one Mediterranean Gull.
We hit the Rodden Trail around 11:30 and walked to the café at Sandsfoot Castle, it took us an hour. So many butterflies were on the wing, such a contrast to last year when there were none at this time.
SANDSFOOT CASTLE AND GARDENS
We saw all the species that are usually on the wing in April except for Small Tortoiseshell. We listed, Brimstone, Small White, Speckled Wood, Orange Tip, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma and Holy Blue.
MY FIRST COMMA OF THE YEAR
Birdwise we only added a couple of migrant species; Common Whitethroat and Swallow. But, we did find a Firecrest which was lovely to see.
Our lunch stop at the café was superb, I devoured one the best Cornish pasties you buy in the Weymouth area, not quite as good as Philp’s in Hayle, Cornwall but pretty close. The coffee is good too!
We saw little else, nothing in the harbour (scanning with bins only) and we never walked all the way to Ferrybridge because we were running out of time, we still dog-sitting and had to be back by 4pm.We took a shorter route back, missing out Radipole.
PORTLAND VIEWED FROM THE RODDEN TRAIL ACROSS THE HARBOUR
At 5pm the sun was still shining, lots of bird were around, the ploughed field next to our garden had recently been farrowed, attracting a lot of birds. I set the scope on the lawn and scanned.
one of my local Jackdaws
Stock Dove with its irridescent neck-feathers glowing in the sunlight
and with a Wood Pigeon here for comparison
14 species were either in the field or along the tree-lined hedges, I was looking particularly for Stock Doves and found just one. Other species on the soil included: Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Song Thrush and Blackbird (both were collecting mouthfuls of worms to feed young, Dunnock, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Jay, Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge. I was quite surprised to see a pair of MADARIN DUCKS waddling along the edge of the field, I know they breed in the local stream but to see them in the ploughed field was a first!
a surprising sighting in the ploughed field? A pair of Mandarin Ducks
A Common Buzzard flew over just as I finished at 6pm and a second surprise was the appearence of my local House Martins, fully two weeks earlier than last year.