Sika deer

11 Sunday Oct 2026

Tags

British deer, British mammals, RSPB Lodmoor, Sika, Sika at Lodmoor, Sika deer, Sika hind, Sika stag

Well, this was a surprise!
I was at Lodmoor, standing watching two Stonechats dotting around their little patch, when this pair of Sika deer appeared from behind some bushes.

I’m not sure which of us got the biggest shock to see the other but, sadly, the stag bolted and the hind immediately followed him.

They trotted quickly across the nearest body of shallow water, paused for a moment at the half way point to turn and consider me, then retreated at a gallop further in to the reserve’s reed beds, giving me delightful views of their white, heart-shaped-furry bottoms.

Though I was sorry to have scared them, I was exceedingly pleased to have got such close views of these handsome creatures.

Entrancing Lapwings

10 Saturday Oct 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

birding, birding at Lodmoor, birdwatching, British birds, Dorset birds, Lapwing, RSPB Lodmoor

My personal challenge to take better photographs of Lapwings continued during my recent visits to RSPB Lodmoor. However, the quality and zoom length of my camera equipment is limited, so the alternative was to get as close to the birds as possible – not always, indeed not often, an easy task with these less than confiding birds.

After a couple of Lodmoor visits, I’d mostly figured out where the currently resident Lapwings preferred to position themselves. Then, it was a case of using my field craft to approach those that were closest to the footpaths at a time when no other humans were passing – not as easy as it sounds, partly because many locals use the nature reserve paths at all times of the day for jogging and to walk themselves and their dogs, often talking loudly while doing so, to each other, their dogs, and on their phones, and partly because there was a distinct lack of vegetation to hide behind in the places the birds were frequenting.

Through patience and perseverance, and visiting both in the early morning and late afternoon, I managed to get a few images that I’m happy with, but my challenge will definitely continue when next I visit. Why, you might ask? I just think that, from their ‘head crest like an upward stroke of calligraphy’ (Tessa Boase, Into the Red) to the eye-catching palette of metallic hues in their feathers, they are entrancingly beautiful.

A surprise Spoonbill

05 Monday Oct 2026

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, juvenile Spoonbill, Platalea leucorodia, RSPB Lodmoor, Spoonbill

Timing is everything!

On the third day of my recent Weymouth holiday my 7:45am arrival at RSPB Lodmoor was perfect. I had just started to walk along the western footpath and stopped to scan the birds with my binoculars, when I noticed a very interesting new arrival feeding right in front of the viewing shelter.

I can walk very fast when I have to and my stumpy legs really got cracking that morning. In the blink of an eye (slight exaggeration!) I had walked around to the shelter, and was watching this Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) as it swept its wide flat bill back and forth through the water, scooping up and swallowing the small creatures it was catching.

I had only ever seen Spoonbills at some distance before so I was delighted to spend time watching this bird, a juvenile according to other local birders who also managed to see it a little later in the day.

According to an article on the RSPB website, Spoonbills were once a familiar sight in Britain, until ‘drainage of wetland habitats and hunting resulted in a population crash’. They were last recorded nesting in Suffolk in 1668 and were not known to have bred again until the late 1990s, over 300 years later. Now, they breed regularly at Holkham National Nature Reserve in Norfolk, and at RSPB Fairburn Ings in Yorkshire, as well as a very small number of other locations.

A Yellow wagtail up close

30 Wednesday Sep 2026

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birding at Lodmoor, birdwatching, Motacilla flava, RSPB Lodmoor, Yellow wagtail

If there hadn’t been four Glossy ibis at RSPB Lodmoor on day one of my latest birding week in Dorset, this gorgeous Yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) would’ve been the absolute highlight.

Though I’d spotted, and heard, several dotting around the reserve, this one popped up from where it was foraging on the salt marsh into a tree above where I was standing chatting with two other birders.

The wagtail wasn’t at all bothered about our proximity, and proceeded to have a good preen, giving us excellent views and photo opportunities.

Though I’ve seen Yellow wagtails many times before, usually as they pass along the south Wales coastline during autumn migration, this was definitely my closest encounter with one, and by far my best photos. What a treat!

Four Glossy ibis

29 Tuesday Sep 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birding at Lodmoor, birdwatching, British birds, Dorset birds, Glossy ibis, Plegadis falcinellus, RSPB Lodmoor, Weymouth birding

Unfortunately I can’t share with you any images of the absolute highlight of last week’s return visit to the Dorset seaside town of Weymouth. It actually happened very quickly when I was on the train to Weymouth, travelling along the edge of Poole Harbour, so I didn’t have time to get my phone out, let alone my good camera. There were two White-tailed eagles sitting on the shoreline no more than 20 metres from the train!!!!! I could scarcely believe my eyes but, when I later asked online, the company that runs birding cruises around the harbour confirmed the location was indeed a place the eagles are known to sit. Incredible, and a lifer for me.

I was a bit concerned that I’d peaked too early, that the rest of the week’s birding would be disappointing compared to that experience but, as you can guess from the photos above, I needn’t have worried. These four black-looking birds are Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) and they are anything but black, their stunning plumage ranging from bronze and metallic greens through brownish purple. My Lodmoor photos don’t show this but I blogged about this species the second time I saw one, back in May 2018, and those photos and a short video give better views.

This species used to be rare in Britain but is now seen increasingly often and, according to the BTO website, pairs began breeding in Britain in 2022. Glossy ibis are mostly located in southern Britain, but do range further north. The bird I saw in that 2018 blog was at Druridge Pools in Northumberland, in north-eastern England.

The Lodmoor four were mostly distant and easily spooked, flying back and forth from the main waterways to what’s called the postbox pool, on the northern side of the reserve. (The other birds in the flight photos above and below are Black-tailed godwits.) This was just my fourth time seeing these stunning birds and my first time seeing more than one, so I was very pleased with my first day in Weymouth, especially as they weren’t all I saw that day. More on that tomorrow …

Common terns and their chicks

29 Wednesday Jul 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ Comments Off on Common terns and their chicks

Tags

birding, birdwatching, breeding Common terns, British birds, Common tern, Common tern chicks, Common tern fledglings, RSPB Lodmoor

During June and July, one of the highlights of every visit to RSPB Lodmoor is watching and listening to the Common terns in the process of raising the next generation of Common terns. They share the artificial breeding ‘islands’ with Lesser black-backed gulls, mostly harmoniously, but the noise generated by adults and offspring communicating with each other and the almost constant neighbourhood disputes has to be heard to be believed. It’s rowdy and raucous but in a rather joyous, life-affirming kind of way.

During my recent visit, from 8 to 15 July, most of the terns’ offspring had already fledged but were still being fed by their parents, so were spending their time sitting along the shoreline of the various pools of water. Sometimes they sat alone or with their siblings; at other times, one parent sat nearby, standing guard, while the other parent was away fishing for food.

However, it seems some pairs of Common terns had started the breeding process several weeks later than the others. A couple were still sitting on eggs and, during the week I was there, some tiny chicks hatched. They were so small and well camouflaged that it was difficult to see them, even with binoculars, let alone get clear photographs, but I hope you can pick them out amongst the stones in the images above and below.

An Oystercatcher family

25 Saturday Jul 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Juvenile Oystercatcher, Oystercatcher, RSPB Lodmoor

Though my recent week in Weymouth only produced one new bird for my year list, I did still enjoy every visit to RSPB Lodmoor, as many of their local birds are different from those I see when birding close to home.

Although small numbers of Oystercatchers are a regular sight along the south Wales coastline, they rarely breed here; I know of only one pair that have tried for many years at an odd location, under one of the dolphins in Cardiff Bay (I blogged about this in Chicks of Cardiff Bay, June 2024).

So, it was wonderful to be treated to some close views of this well-grown juvenile Oystercatcher interacting with its parents each time I visited Lodmoor. The young one seemed perfectly able to feed itself but its parents were still supplementing its food intake – long thin worms, pulled from the mud, seemed to be the most common snack.

Though the juvenile was almost as big as its parents, its beak and legs had still to acquire their adult colours. And, as is common with the young of all creatures, including humans, the young’un spent a lot of its time snoozing. I only hope it lives long and prospers!

Greenshank

22 Wednesday Jul 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Greenshank, RSPB Lodmoor, Tringa nebularia

I could probably count on the fingers of both hands the number of times I’ve seen a Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), and I’ve only once seen this species within walking distance of home (A Green-legged long-shank comes to call, April 2017). My other sightings were on bird club outings in various parts of Wales and when I’ve been at RSPB Lodmoor in Weymouth. And that is where I enjoyed my most recent, though still distant sighting of one of these handsome green-legged birds. (You can read more about them in my post Greenshanks, from November 2018.)

Weymouth trip birding roundup

28 Thursday May 2026

Posted by sconzani in nature

≈ Comments Off on Weymouth trip birding roundup

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Black-headed gull, British birds, Common tern, Kittiwake, Marsh harrier, RSPB Lodmoor, RSPB Radipole, Sedge warbler, Swallow

The main reason for my trip to Weymouth and Portland from 7 to 14 May was to celebrate a BIG birthday and, for me, there’s no better way to celebrate than to spend time in Nature, watching the birds, butterflies and other creatures that make my heart sing. The fact that I was able to add eight new bird species to my 2026 list was a welcome bonus but certainly not a necessity – I get just as much pleasure from seeing the ‘ordinary’ birds (the Skylarks and Stonechats and the Pipits feeding their families) as I do from seeing those I don’t get to spot on my home turf. And, in fact, I didn’t even see one of the biggest birding highlights of this trip, a Bittern that was booming from deep in the reed beds during two of my visits to RSPB Lodmoor. I didn’t manage to get many great photos of the birds I saw but here are a few …

One of the artificial islands used for nesting by Black-headed gulls and Common terns (and, it seems, the occasional Canada goose). The air around these little islands is always alive with birds coming and going, and the noise is often raucous.

Though Reed and Sedge warblers and Reed buntings sang constantly from the reed beds, they were rarely visible. I got a lucky fleeting glimpse of this Sedge warbler.

Each time I went to Lodmoor, I was treated to Swallows like this one, as well as House and Sand martins zipping about overhead, and also coming down to gather mud and bits of vegetation to help build their nests.

On several days, at both Lodmoor and Radipole, I watched Marsh harriers flying back and forth, sometimes soaring, often just skimming the tops of the reeds as they hunted for food.

From the coastal path above Portland’s west cliffs, I spotted Guillemots and Razorbills, several gull species and Gannets, as well as these Kittiwakes, an adult on the right and a juvenile below left.

If you’re interested, the birds that were new sightings for me were Common tern, Bar-tailed godwit, Sanderling, Little tern, Whimbrel, Kittiwake, Great white egret, and that booming Bittern.

Bar-tailed godwits

26 Tuesday May 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bar-tailed Godwit, birding, Birding at Ferrybridge, birdwatching, British birds, Limosa lapponica, RSPB Lodmoor

In a blog about Black-tailed godwits, after seeing a huge flock of them just off Cardiff Bay Barrage in February last year, I wrote:

We have two species of godwit in Britain, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed (Limosa lapponica), and, at first glance, they can be difficult to tell apart but, as you can see in some of my photos, the Black-tailed have broad white wing-bars and their white tails finish with a black band, hence their name.

Though we sometime see Bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica) in south Wales, as they pass through during their spring and autumn migrations, I haven’t seen any locally since 2019, so it was wonderful to see them several times in Dorset, both at Lodmoor and along the shore line in front of the Wild Chesil Centre at Ferrybridge. In fact, early one morning, I took a seat on a small concrete slipway by the road at Ferrybridge and spent perhaps 30 minutes watching these two birds feeding. I was hoping they’d come closer as the tide came in but, just as they were getting nearer, a dog walker and his pet walked along the sand between me and the birds, scaring them further away.

One morning at Lodmoor, this single Bar-tailed godwit flew in, and was joined a short time later by two little Sanderlings – more very enjoyable birdwatching minutes were spent watching these birds as they foraged along the water’s edge.