Hairy Female

Some nice spells of warm sunshine out on the heath this morning. The Hairy Dragonflies are starting to appear in good numbers. I spotted 4 or 5 hunting, and this female drying out high up on a gorse bush.

Very quiet on the Dragon Front

Decided to try the Dorset heathland again last Saturday. Very quiet, and very showery,,, heavy at times as they say. Two Hairy Dragonflies were spotted, one by me, and one by Adrian Read. Mine of course decided to stay well away over in the bramble clump. His was a female, and mine was a very fresh male (below). Apologise for quality, it was very distant.

Plod More around Lodmoor

Took the walkabout lens for a plod around Loddy. Quite a lot to see, and hear, with some sun on offer too. The baby coots are growing fast, almost doubling in size since i saw them last. The Sedge Warblers are noisy, but not showing all that well, and i managed a longish shot of a male Reed Bunting. Far out on the mud there were around 15 Whimbrel, worth keeping an eye on them in case they move closer to the path.

 This female was togged last week.

Radar's Magical Mystery Tour of Portland

Had a great few hours of bird photography with Mark on Portland yesterday. He even had me crawling through barbed wire like a special forces soldier,,,,, well almost. Some special bird encounters resulted, and i was a happy bunny.

Today on the heath, and all the MUCKY Cetti's

Trickled out to the Dorset heaths, where the Sand Lizzies are at their most colourful now. I posted three males on Flickr last week, so here's a mummy to make up for that.

Also saw a Holly Blue butterfly which didn't stop for a pic, and several Speckled Woods.

These following Cetti's Warbler shots are my messy ones from my last go at them.

Visitors at Loddy

Had a walk around Loddy today, and these Avocets were the main point of interest.

Portland Again

I just can't get enough of Portland lately. So much happening in the bird world at the moment. On Sunday Chris and myself went on a Wheatear foray, and after almost giving up we struck lucky, and hit a group of new arrivals.

I was chuffed to get close to a Skylark as well. They are present on the rough grassland in good numbers.

Some of the Linnets were nest building, as i arrived and parked. This one tho' was too busy making himself pretty.

One disappointment was a fleeting glimpse of a male Redstart, that disappeared north as i arrived.

Birdfest at Portland

Well, the spring migration is in full flow, with lots of birds making landfall on Portland. Wheatear numbers are up quite a bit since my last post, but i STILL haven't got a shot i'm happy with. Gotta get closer,,,, somehow. I wish i could just disappear into the ground (Radar style), but i'm really not built for open ground stealth. I thought that maybe i could hide under a green blanket, but someone would no doubt mistake me for an Iron Age burial mound. With loads of small birds coming to the Bill, the local raptors are having a field day, just waiting for a tired one to dine on.

This Meadow Pipit perched on a rock, right beside my car, and below a beautiful male Redstart popped up in the distance. I might have to go back to Portland again soon, for a better shot of him.

Warble on

Loads of Chiffchaffs on the heath today. This poor effort was the best i could do.

Foiled on Fraggle

After several visits to Portland in the last week, i'm still not happy with my Wheatear shots. Not only have they been in short supply on Fraggle, but are pretty hard to approach, and the shots i'm getting show this. I am not getting any better results than i have in previous seasons.

 Some even showed their bums to me: