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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: Teal

Tooting Teal

10 Thursday Nov 2022

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, British ducks, Roath Park Lake, Teal

I could hear them tooting from the other side of the road so quickly got my camera out and headed across to Roath Park Lake. There were six Teal in total, four males and two females. One pair was drifting off to one side together but it was the other three males that were making all the noise.

221110 teal (1)

The second female, a delicate brown-and-grey beauty, was the subject of their intense attention. All three males were circling her, making their distinctive tooting call and flinging back their heads. I had never seen this behaviour before but their display was unmistakeable. Each was trying, but seemingly failing to impress the female. They were certainly presenting her with some very handsome choices, and I was definitely impressed.

221110 teal (2)

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Teal yoyos

05 Monday Sep 2022

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, British ducks, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Teal

Teal obviously like Cosmeston’s dragonfly pond but they’re easily freaked by passing walkers and their dogs, and fly in panic back to the safety of an inaccessible pond on the other side of the nearby woodland.

220905 teal (1)

But if you’re patient and wait, perhaps slightly obscured behind a shrub, sometimes no more than ten minutes, like avian yoyos, the Teal will return to the dragonfly pond once again. On Saturday morning, five little beauties were doing just this … and all the while the Mallards wondered what the fuss was about.

220905 teal (2)

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Birding at RSPB Lodmoor

31 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, Black-tailed godwit, British birds, Greenshank, Lapwing, Lesser yellowlegs, Little egret, Lodmoor, RSPB Lodmoor, Ruff, Snipe, Teal

Oh to have somewhere like RSPB Lodmoor as my local birding patch! Its 76 hectares of wetlands and grasslands, saltmarsh and reed beds are home to a huge variety of birds and often attract passing rarities, plus it’s a lovely place to walk and all within a mile of Weymouth town centre.

181031 birding Lodmoor (1)

This was our second stop on the way to Portland last Friday. Our target bird was the Lesser yellowlegs – amazingly, a Lesser yellowlegs was also at Lodmoor when we went to Portland in 2017 – but there were many other lovely birds to be seen, and, as I was able to get reasonably good photos, some of these birds will be getting their own blog posts in the coming days. So, here are some tasters of what you can expect to see at this outstanding reserve.

181031 birding Lodmoor (2)181031 birding Lodmoor (3)

Most of my photos of the Black-tailed godwits are like this first one – heads down, bottoms up – but I did manage to get some head shots.

181031 birding Lodmoor (4)

Just a few years ago Little egrets would have been a rare sight in Britain but not any more. They’re now well settled, breeding and frequently seen.

181031 birding Lodmoor (5)
181031 birding Lodmoor (6)

I love the colours in the Lapwings’ plumage. They look plain black and white from a distance but are, in fact, adorned in rich sumptuous greens. Such elegant birds.

181031 birding Lodmoor (7)

We saw several Snipe poking about in the mud for food.

181031 birding Lodmoor (8)

After the Canada geese, probably the second most abundant species of bird we saw was Teal, many of which were sheltering from the freezing wind behind clumps of reeds. If you look carefully, you can just see a Ruff in the centre near the reeds.

181031 birding Lodmoor (9)

The star of the Lodmoor show, the Lesser yellowlegs, seen here behind a Black-tailed godwit and to the left of 2 lovely Greenshanks. All three of these birds will be getting their own blog posts.

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Birding at RSPB Lodmoor

19 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Canada goose, Great white egret, Kingfisher, Lesser yellowlegs, Mediterranean gull, RSPB Lodmoor, Teal, Tringa flavipes

171019 RSPB Lodmoor

On the way to Portland Bird Observatory last Friday we called in at the RSPB’s Lodmoor Reserve, just outside of Weymouth, to see if we could catch a glimpse of one of their rare visitors, a Lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), a bird that’s usually more at home in the Americas. Our views weren’t super clear – my photos were taken through tall grasses and bramble – but it was great to see one of these occasional visitors to Europe.

171019 Lesser yellow-legs (1)
171019 Lesser yellow-legs (2)

As well as the Lesser yellowlegs (and the Gadwall I blogged about earlier in the week), there was an abundance of other birdlife.

171019 Various birds

Large numbers of Canada geese flew in while we walked the trails, and there were numerous Teal and Tufted ducks.

171019 Canada geese

171019 Teal

A few Mediterranean as well as the more common gull species …

171019 Assorted gulls (1)
171019 Assorted gulls (2)
171019 Assorted gulls (3)

Ruff, Snipe, Little and Great white egrets puddled about in the lagoons; a very confiding Kingfisher posed for photos; two Marsh harriers glided over the distant reed beds; and a Spoonbill was a nice, though distant sighting. I recorded over 30 species of birds at Lodmoor and that was without walking right around the reserve.

171019 Great white egret
171019 Kingfisher

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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