Dorset coast.........

23-24 Oct - A couple of visits to Weymouth sites while I was in the area. Two morning visits to Lodmoor unfortunately coincided with misty dull weather (but no rain) so the photography opportunities were somewhat limited. Several Common Snipe were roosting at fairly close quarters from the west path, and gave nice autumnal perspectives as their straw brown plumage blended nicely with the autumn reeds. The west scrape often has fairly confiding waders feeding, and there were also several Black-tailed Godwits feeding at close quarters - other birds here included flyover Great White Egrets, a hunting female Marsh Harrier, a Kingfisher and calling Water Rails and Cetti's Warblers. Radipole was fairly quiet, with high water levels, but a group of Bearded Tits were "pinging" in the reedbed, however in the breezy conditions they didn't come to the top of the reeds. Ferrybridge on the falling tide produced a dozen or so Med Gulls in plumages varying from adult winter to first-year birds (in addition to several adult birds at Lodmoor) - also here waders including Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Turnstone and Bar-tailed Godwit. Fifty or so Brent Geese flew in to the mudflats as the tide dropped.