Today, Andy, my good friend and neighbour, took me for a drive around a few of Weymouth and Portland Birding Sites, to see what bird species we could add to our respective bird species list for 2025.
First stop was Lodmoor, followed by Camp Road, Ferrybridge and then Portland Harbour. Well we recorded 62 species between 9:30am - 2:00pm, with 12 new species for myself including a first for my Port & Wey Bird Species List, in the shape of an Egyptian Goose, in fact there were two at Lodmoor, bringing my year total to 80.
Other birds of interest were at least 2 Cirl Buntings in the field to the left of Camp Road. Two Avocets at Lodmoor and 10 Black-necked Grebes in Portland Harbour
2 Great Northern Diver
And at Lodmoor my first Egyptian Geese for my Portland and Weymouth species list, which now stands at 234 since 30 May 17.
Mammals Recorded:
Bunny
Birds Recorded.
Bunny
Birds Recorded.
New species for year in red with location seen:
2 Great Northern Diver
1 Great Crested Grebe - Ferrybridge
10 Black-necked Grebe - Portland Harbour
Cormorant
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Mute Swan
Dark-bellied Brent Goose
Canada Goose
Shelduck
2 Egyptian Goose - Lodmoor RSPB Reserve
Mallard
Gadwall
Wigeon - Lodmoor RSPB Reserve
Teal
Shoveler
Tufted Duck
Red-breasted Merganser - Portland Harbour
Buzzard - Portland Beach Road
Marsh Harrier - Lodmoor RSPB Reserve
Kestrel
Water Rail
Moorhen
Coot
Oystercatcher
2 Avocet - Lodmoor RSPB Reserve
Golden Plover
Lapwing
Snipe
1 Curlew - Ferrybridge
Black-headed Gull
Mediterranean Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Wood Pigeon
2 Kingfisher - Lodmoor RSPB Reserve
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Cetti's Warbler
Chiffchaff
Bearded Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Rook - Camp Road
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Bullfinch
2 Cirl Bunting - Camp Road
Reed Bunting
Escapees, Ferals, Possibles Etc.
Feral pigeon
Escapees, Ferals, Possibles Etc.
Feral pigeon
A Great Crested Grebe at Ferrybridge.
A Little Egret at Lodmoor.
And another Little Egret. This time at Ferrybridge.
A Grey Heron soaking up the sun at Lodmoor.
A pair of Wigeon at Lodmoor
Two drake Teal having 40 winks.
And another drake Teal sat on the water. There was no sign of the Green-winged Teal here at Lodmoor today.
A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers in Portland Harbour.
A very distant shot of a Marsh Harrier at Lodmoor
One of the 2 Avocets at Lodmoor.
And here is the second one with its head under water.
Golden Plover at Lodmoor
More Golden Plovers with a few Lapwing.
Lapwing and a Starling at Lodmoor
More Lapwing
And even more
Right last ones.
One of many Snipe at Lodmoor.
And on one of the exposed mud flats was this Curlew and a few Mediterranean Gulls
A record shot of one of the two Kingfishers at Lodmoor today.
So close, but this Robin decided not to land on my hand.
With the sun out, there were quite a few Chiffchaffs about at Lodmoor.
A Wren at Lodmoor
A very vocal Rook at Camp Road.
A female Bullfinch at Lodmoor.
In this field to the left of Camp Road here was this.........
...............Cirl Bunting which was joined.......
.............by this second bird.
Apparently there have been up to 5 Cirl Buntings in this field.
NOTE
Reference Cirl Buntings
We were approached by the farmer, who asked us politely not to stand on the embankments as he had just planted Hawthorns to stop the soil erosion, which in turn has been undermining his fence posts. We duly obliged