Tag Archives: RSPB Lodmoor

Lodmoor’s distant birds

07 Thursday Aug 2025

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I wrote in Tuesday’s blog (Egrets, little and large) that I would share in a subsequent post more of the birds I saw during last week’s three visits to RSPB Lodmoor, and here they are. Most were quite distant but I thought it was worth documenting the wide variety of birds that can be seen at this wonderful reserve.

You may struggle to spot the two birds in this photo – they are sitting facing each other on the ‘beach’ area but their colours blend in rather well to the background. In spite of that, this was probably the standout sighting for me, as these are Bearded tits, and, given their sandy colouring, these were probably fledglings, the first ones I’ve seen.

Black-tailed godwit numbers increased from three on my first visit to Lodmoor to eight on my final visit, and numbers will likely continue to increase as these birds return from their breeding grounds in Iceland and continental Europe. You may just be able to spot some smaller birds amongst the shorter reeds in the foreground. These are Dunlin.

I blogged about seeing Breeding Common terns after my June visit to Lodmoor. This time the Common terns had almost all fledged, though one chick remained on one of the breeding platforms and several sat on the sand waiting for their parents to return and feed them. Above you can see two Common terns at the left of the frame but the two terns in the centre of the image are Little terns. These breed, in a specially protected area, on nearby Chesil Beach and, though I saw some there very distantly during my last visit, it was wonderful to see these two at a much closer distance. The birds in the background are a mix of Mediterranean and Black-headed gulls.

How gorgeous is this Lapwing? I think it’s a juvenile bird as it seemed curious rather than scared by my proximity on the path just across from where it was foraging for food, and I had read that Lapwings have bred on the reserve this year.

I was scanning the reeds for anything interesting when this stunning Marsh harrier flew up almost right in front of me. Bushes obscured it from view for a few minutes so I couldn’t get any better photos and, though it did a circuit around the far side of the reserve, it soon disappeared from sight once again.

Last but by no means least are two sandpipers. On the left is a Wood sandpiper, a bird I’d only ever seen once before and, though my picture only shows one, two birds frequented this pool all of last week. This species is only seen in Britain during Spring and Autumn as they move between their breeding grounds in northern Europe and their over-wintering locations in Africa, so I was particularly lucky to have synchronised my visit with their stopover. The bird on the right is a Green sandpiper, another bird I don’t see very often. Though they are known to frequent a river quite near where I live, it’s not a location I can easily access, plus they are very flighty birds, heading for the skies at the slightest suggestion of humans close by.

Egrets, little and large

05 Tuesday Aug 2025

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This is a view of RSPB Lodmoor from the footpath that runs along the western edge of the reserve. With areas of open water and hidden pools, lush reedbeds and swathes of saltmarsh, it’s a wetland paradise for birds and, as well as having a resident population of water fowl, the fact that the reserve is right on the coast means that it’s also a mecca for migrating birds, and sightings of rarities are relatively frequent.

I’ll share more of Lodmoor’s birds in another post but today want to focus on the egrets. They are members of the Heron family and share Lodmoor with their Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) cousins, though not always harmoniously – I saw a couple of spats between the herons and egrets during my visits. There is a resident population of Little egrets (Egretta garzetta), which only arrived in numbers in the UK in 1989 and first bred somewhere in Dorset in 1996, per the RSPB website, but are now quite common in southern Britain. The photo below shows a Grey heron, a Great white egret and two Little egrets.

I saw my first Great white egret (Ardea alba) of the year during my visit to Lodmoor in June but it was moving around the edge of a distant, inaccessible pool, so I didn’t get a good look at it. This time, there were several Great whites around the reserve and, as you might guess from the photo below, I had my closest ever views of this handsome bird as it stalked around a pool, hoping to spear a fish or two.

While it was wonderful to enjoy such good sightings of the Great white egrets, the egret highlight of this trip came during my second visit to Lodmoor, and only happened because I got chatting to some other birders. One of them was convinced she had seen a Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) but it had subsequently disappeared behind the tall reeds. Luckily for me, within minutes the bird popped up again. Below, you can see two Great white egrets and the much smaller Cattle egret, with two Grey herons off to the right.

Like the Little egret, the Cattle egret is a recent migrant to Britain that has made itself at home. It was first recorded breeding here in 2008, and its population is expanding ever northwards from its initial strongholds in southern Britain. This particular Cattle egret remained distant and soon vanished again into the reed beds but it was a delight to have seen so many members of the heron family together.

Sunshine in a butterfly

04 Monday Aug 2025

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I’ve been away for another mini break, staying once again in Weymouth, on Dorset’s south coast, for four nights, spending my three and a half days surrounded by birds and butterflies (also crowds of summertime beach visitors, though, fortunately for me, most of them weren’t in Weymouth for the same kind of wildlife as I was). With cool winds and lengthy spells of drizzle, the weather wasn’t as good as during my visit in early June, but I saw lots of lovely creatures that I will share with you over the coming week.

First up today is the first of four new-for-2025 butterfly species I saw, this gorgeous Clouded yellow (Colias croceus), a butterfly I don’t see in south Wales every year as they’re migrants from Europe and their appearance on our shores depends a lot on weather and wind direction and how their population is faring. This sighting was particularly welcome, as I had spent Tuesday morning wandering around the RSPB’s Radipole reserve in almost constant drizzle, then headed for an afternoon wander around RSPB Lodmoor. This little drop of sunshine fluttered up right in front of me when I got to Lodmoor, a sign of the lovely afternoon to follow.

Breeding Common terns

17 Tuesday Jun 2025

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My afternoon walk to Lodmoor Nature Reserve proved the perfect antidote to my five-hour journey on four different trains to get to Weymouth. And what an absolute delight it was when I arrived at Lodmoor to first hear – very raucous, and then see the Common terns and their Black-headed gull companions breeding in close proximity on two artificial islands near the edge of the lakes. (These islands are ring-fenced and fitted out with some enclosed nesting ‘boxes’ to try to offer the birds better protection during the breeding season.)

Though Common terns can be seen at certain times of year when moving on passage up and down the Bristol Channel, I’ve rarely managed to catch sight of them in my local stomping ground, so seeing them at reasonably close quarters, and with their tiny chicks just beginning to explore the world around them, was another special treat of this holiday.

Terns are magnificent aeronauts. Their skill at manoeuvring their streamlined shape through the thermal airwaves, their ability to twist and turn and plunge and lift – these fliers are a joy to watch, particularly when diving for the tiny fish swimming just below the water’s surface. And, with several tiny chicks to feed, these terns were almost constantly in the air. Many seemed to fly straight out to sea where, presumably, their prey was more bountiful but I also noticed, when walking around Weymouth’s other local nature reserve, Radipole Lakes, that the Common terns were successfully exploiting the fishing opportunities there as well.

276/365 Ruffing it

03 Thursday Oct 2019

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When we spotted this white-headed Ruff at RSPB Lodmoor, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same bird we’d seen at this same location on our 2018 trip to Portland. Of course, as the bird wasn’t ringed, there was no way to tell for sure but it certainly was a handsome bird, a ‘satellite’ male as I explained in last year’s post here.


275/365 Black-tailed godwits

02 Wednesday Oct 2019

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For me, the Black-tailed godwits were a highlight of our walk around RSPB Lodmoor. They’re not uncommon birds but I don’t see them on my local patch and don’t often get close views of them.

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There were several at Lodmoor but the little beauty shown below was feeding quite close to the western path. That feeding was a constant repetition of probing the mud to locate some choice morsel, raising its beak from the water and throwing back its head to gulp down said morsel, then plunging its head down into the water again. If its frequent gulps were any indication, the bird was finding plenty of food.

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Black-tailed godwits are handsome waders that can be seen almost year round in Britain. Though local populations migrate to overwinter in Africa, birds from Iceland come to Britain to enjoy our relatively milder winter climate.

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274/365 Egrets and herons

01 Tuesday Oct 2019

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On the way to Portland last Friday our birding group stopped off at the RSPB’s Lodmoor Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Weymouth. It’s a wonderful environment for birds, with small lakes and large reedbeds, open saltmarshes and hedge-enclosed pathways, and it always turns up a good variety of birds.

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Now, I’ve only been in Britain four years so I don’t remember the ‘old days’ when twitchers would race across the country to see a Little egret or a Great white egret, but even I can see how much these birds have increased in number in a very short time.

At Lodmoor, there were several Little egrets (above) – I didn’t count the ones I did see, and I’m sure there were several lurking amongst the reeds that I couldn’t see and, amazingly, there were six (!) Great white egrets (below), for a time all congregated in one spot. Now, that was a sight to see.

I was also impressed by the large numbers of Grey herons, especially those at nearby RSPB Radipole, all lined up along the edge of the reeds, sheltering from the strong westerly winds.

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A white-headed Ruff

08 Thursday Nov 2018

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The Ruff is another bird I had only seen at a distance, or through the ’scopes of generous birding friends, before our recent birding weekend on Portland, when we got good views of a single Ruff during our stopover at RSPB Lodmoor.

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I have to say this was an odd-looking bird, with a head that seemed far too small for its body – especially on the white-headed winter-plumaged bird we saw – though it did have something of the look of an elegant dandy, with its snowy onesie topped by a splendid brown cape of wings.

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The Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) is a particularly fascinating bird: in the breeding season the males, resplendent in long-feathered collars of red, black or white, perform dance-and-display competitions at specially chosen sites (known as leks) to attract females (known as reeves). And, even more fascinating, there are three different types of male – you can read more about that on the BTO website here. I assume, from its white head that the Lodmoor bird was a ‘satellite’ male but I may be wrong about that. 

Ruffs can look quite hunched much of the time but will stand tall and alert when alarmed about something, as you can from the bird’s stance in the photo on the right above. I hasten to add that it wasn’t alarmed by the birders watching it but something – probably a bird of prey – had caused many of the nearby birds on the reserve to take flight, so the Ruff was keeping an eye on the skies. It also decided at this point that there was safety in numbers and sidled over to stand closer to the other waders nearby.

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Ruff, on the left, with a Lesser yellowlegs and two Greenshanks

The Ruff used to breed quite extensively in Britain but now seldom does. We mostly see these birds as they migrate from their breeding grounds in Scandinavia to their wintering locations in Africa and vice versa, which is a great pity, as I’d certainly like to witness one of their leks some day.

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The doubly muddy godwits

06 Tuesday Nov 2018

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This is the Black-tailed godwit in its winter plumage, a delicate combination of white below and pale beige and grey above, with just a hint of pink from the soft autumn light.

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The Black-tailed godwit used to be much more numerous in Britain, with a strong breeding population. But not any more. Now, although as many as 40,000 birds come from Iceland to over-winter on these isles, just 60 pairs breed here.

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The Back from the Brink project is trying to change that terrifying statistic. By monitoring the nests of existing birds, by protecting them from predators through the installation of electric fences, by providing more areas where the birds can breed, by collecting eggs from at-risk nests and hand-rearing them, the project hopes to ensure Black-tailed godwits have a future in Britain.

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The birds I saw recently at RSPB Lodmoor are almost certainly birds that have bred in Iceland but they all look the same. They are large wading birds, with long beaks they use to probe the mud for snails, worms and insects – the birds I was watching must’ve been hungry as I managed to take a lot of photos with their heads under water! Their scientific name, Limosa limosa, reflects their love of mud – limosa comes from the Latin limus, meaning mud, so these godwits are doubly muddy.

Interestingly, when researching this post I found out that the female Black-tailed godwits have longer beaks than the males, which means they don’t compete for food – a fascinating evolutionary adaption.

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Greenshanks

05 Monday Nov 2018

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As they breed in Scotland and mostly migrate to Africa for the winter (some birds do over-winter in coastal estuaries in Britain), I don’t get to see Greenshanks very often in my part of south Wales. So, it was particularly nice to get quite close, prolonged views of this pair at RSPB Lodmoor recently.

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Tringa nebularia is the Greenshank’s scientific name, which Wikipedia explains as follows:

The genus name Tringa is … based on [the] Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific nebularia is from [the] Latin nebula “mist” [which] … refers to the greenshank’s damp marshy habitat.

I’d like to think nebularia also refers to its winter appearance, a ghostly grey-and-white bird wading through mist-wreathed waterways on a chilly winter morning, uttering its short but evocative teu-teu-teu call, or, as Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss more elegantly write in their treasury of daily wildlife encounters, Wonderland:

… on a misty September morning, they have a pale luminosity, white beneath and lichen-grey above with a longish, slightly retroussé bill and greenish legs.

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The greenish legs are, of course, the origin of its common name Greenshank and, though the colour is not always very apparent, you can see the obvious contrast between the Greenshanks’ legs and those of the Lesser yellowlegs in the photo below.

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You can also get a good idea of the Greenshanks’ comparative size in this next photo, which shows, from left to right, a Ruff, the Lesser yellowlegs, two Greenshanks and a Dunlin.

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