What's buzzing or flying near you 2021?

Gannet and a Rock Pipit in the rain at Portland Bill.


Rock Pipits are very tame hanging around the Restaurant picnic tables.

 

Mags. Must be desperate

 

If I was to say that a yellow wag tail has been visiting my pond, would that be unusual.
I'm sure that is what it is and seen it on a couple of occasions.

 

@pete not a Yellow Wagtail but a Grey Wagtail which has yellow underparts, confusing I know but Yellow Wagtails are strictly Summer visitors and left for Africa in September and won't be seen again until next April. Greys are resident and are always found near water, usually near streams and sometimes ponds.
Grey.


Yellow.

 

An unusual and rare sighting in Weymouth harbour as this Little Auk is purely a sea bird. Tiny and elusive spending a lot of time under water so difficult to get a photo. It's bigger brother the Great Auk, like the Dodo, became extinct over a 100 years ago.

 

Ahh, thanks for that Clive, you are right that is what I have seen.
I looked up Yellow wag tail and I wondered why it would still be around.

There doesn't appear to be much difference between them, but it did have a very long tail.

 

Sanderling, here for the Winter, Studland Bay.




Turnstone.

 

What a cute little chubby chappie.

 

Usual suspect at the feeders at Basford Lakes in Hampshire plus a distant Goosander on one of the lakes, one of the sawbill ducks with a serrated bill for holding on to fish and crustaceans.

 

That's a pretty assortment Strongy.

 

Spoonbills from the hide at Arne, they look close here but unless you have a scope or camera with a good zoom then they are very distant. Close enough to see one has yellow flag and rings on it's legs.
Max zoom and then cropped.


Max zoom (83).


From the hide.

 

A nice selection of overwintering birds in Poole Harbour today.
Great Egret.


Sanderling and Ringed Plover.


Grey Plover.


Sanderling, Turnstone and Dunlin.

 

Ring Necked Parakeet, only around 10 in Studland/Swanage but with large populations elsewhere eg London and Brighton and small numbers all over the country, they have become a pest as they breed readily and can live for up to 35 years!!!

 

To think before they broke loose and started to breed in the wild my mum used to breed them along with other parakeets. They can also be destructive.

 

Black Swans are another introduced species like the Egyptian Goose, one of three on Longham Lakes (ex gravel pits) near Bournemouth airport today.