An unexpected lobster

This weekend we went down to Weymouth to visit Judith's mum. Not exactly a hardship as Dorset has some beautiful landscape and is probably second or third in the birding excitement stakes after Norfolk and Suffolk. Saturday was taken up by visiting Bridport and sorting out Rita's garden so not much birding. Sunday though allowed me to get up early and go out to see what was around.
Alarm went off at 6 and I staggered out to a damp and windy morning. It took me about 30 minutes to get down to Portland Bill for my first stop. It is mid July though and birding is heading into the Summer doldrums. Migration hasn't started, breeders have bred and without major weather systems it's hard work to find anything unusual. So it proved at the Bill.

I set myself up near the Pulpit rock and started scanning the sea. Basically it was quiet.

 The wind was blowing a few gannets near the coast which were closer than normal but it wasn't quite Shetland or Bempton cliffs.
Otherwise apart from some guillemots and razorbills coming in and out of the colony there wan't a lot moving. I did pick up a few scoters but interestingly no signs of puffins. A few years ago there was a healthy colony here but like many on the south, or even northern English coasts, they have declined to the point of invisibility. There were a few ravens floating about the cliffs which were nice. So, I decamped off to Ferrybridge which also was very quiet. As I got into the car park a peregrine did fly over, and the little terns which nest on Chesil were pottering about on the Fleet.
Finally I gave up on Portland and headed off to Lodmoor. This is a brilliant little reserve, only 5 minutes from Rita's house. It's a central reed bed with pools and a scrape on the seaward side. I've had some great birds here- long and short billed dowitcher, stilt sandpiper and lots of good views of commoner waders. It didn't disappoint. Nothing rare but some nice stuff. As well as all the common ducks I quickly got onto two marsh harriers over the reedbed. One was a juvenile - they nest locally. From the viewing platform there was a greenshank loafing on the edge of the mud.

 and this heron was lurking in one of the side channels.

The main interest though was two relatively common wading birds - bar-tailed godwits and oystercatchers. The godwits, about 10 of them, were feeding on the mud. These are large waders with straight or slightly up-turned bills. They were a mix of ones still in semi-breeding plumage with their reddish hues and non-breeding more duller birds.

These three are non-breeding birds. A few id features are present. Firstly, in the one where you can see the tail, it is barred and not a solid black, making this a bar-tailed and not a black-tailed godwit. Also, the bill has a slight upturn to it, diagnostic of this variation of the family. They also look brown rather than grey, but you need more a comparison to see this.

These birds are in post-breeding plumage, so you can see the reddish-hues still present on them. They are very smart birds.

One interesting bird was this adult Mediterranean gull with a juvenile behind it. These used to be rare here, but common in southern Europe. Now they breed in reasonable numbers. Look for the full black hood, large red bill and bright eye to separate them from our black-headed gulls.
Finally, the other nice birds were oystercatchers. A pair had nested and their two young, juveniles now not balls of fluff, were mooching about on the mud.

They were old enough to probe for their own food now but their parents were still in position looking after them, especially when 4 ravens flew over!!
Eventually the weather set in and the rain came down. We finished off not be going to Abbotsbury Swannery as I had hoped but to the Hive cafe at Burton Bradstock for lunch. If you are in the area it is REALLY good. Judith rated her lobster as at least 8/10 and my brill with peas and broad beans was superb!! It does get packed and everyone, their dog and child does go but a packed restaurant is always a good sign.
Never a bad weekend down in Dorset even if the rares stay hidden!!