I would. I like it almost as much as I like Norfolk (tipping points in Norfolk's favour include a pleasing lack of hills and stupid numbers of barn owls).
Last time we were in Dorset was back in August, with non-birding friends and a whole load of rain. It had been a while, and so with a free weekend we headed down to the girl's place in Swanage. We stayed local, opting not to head over to Weymouth/Porland and ranging only as far as Studland and then Durlston.
I've heard people say that heathland birding gets a bit boring, but I don't do it often enough to feel this. Our first stop was on the side of the Studland ferry road, where we walked across the heath down to a place called Redhorn Quay, on the edge of Brands Bay, one of Poole Harbour's many arms. First bird here was a dartford warbler, flushed from the track beside us. Second and third birds were also dartfords, with the fourth through to fifty-somethingth being the flock of barnacle geese wintering in the area. I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me they were of dubious origin given their chosen county, but I'm never sad to see them. They came in over low our heads from behind us, I guess they had been on Littlesea, and headed out over the harbour, clearing Brownsea Island and disappearing into the distance.
The bay itself was also productive, covered in small groups of ducks and grebes. Goldeneye and red-breasted mergansers must have numbered around 40 each, with smaller numbers of other species - wigeon, teal, shelduck and shoveler - on the water and overhead. Large numbers of great-crested grebes contained two slavonians, but no red or black necked, and the girl quickly picked out a great northern diver right out by the shore of Brownsea Island. A fair selection of waders were flying about as the tide reached it's highest point and a mixed passerine flock moving through the gorse around us contained an out of place reed bunting and a cold looking chiffchaff. We had brief views of presumably the same dartfords as before as we headed back to the car, and somewhere in the distance a couple of ravens kronked away happily. A merlin flashed over as we drove to the second stop - a less successful attempt to find some purple sandpipers on rocks around Shell Bay and the ferry points. A couple of typically approachable sanderlings and a few shags were the highlights here.
Last time we were in Dorset was back in August, with non-birding friends and a whole load of rain. It had been a while, and so with a free weekend we headed down to the girl's place in Swanage. We stayed local, opting not to head over to Weymouth/Porland and ranging only as far as Studland and then Durlston.
I've heard people say that heathland birding gets a bit boring, but I don't do it often enough to feel this. Our first stop was on the side of the Studland ferry road, where we walked across the heath down to a place called Redhorn Quay, on the edge of Brands Bay, one of Poole Harbour's many arms. First bird here was a dartford warbler, flushed from the track beside us. Second and third birds were also dartfords, with the fourth through to fifty-somethingth being the flock of barnacle geese wintering in the area. I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me they were of dubious origin given their chosen county, but I'm never sad to see them. They came in over low our heads from behind us, I guess they had been on Littlesea, and headed out over the harbour, clearing Brownsea Island and disappearing into the distance.
The bay itself was also productive, covered in small groups of ducks and grebes. Goldeneye and red-breasted mergansers must have numbered around 40 each, with smaller numbers of other species - wigeon, teal, shelduck and shoveler - on the water and overhead. Large numbers of great-crested grebes contained two slavonians, but no red or black necked, and the girl quickly picked out a great northern diver right out by the shore of Brownsea Island. A fair selection of waders were flying about as the tide reached it's highest point and a mixed passerine flock moving through the gorse around us contained an out of place reed bunting and a cold looking chiffchaff. We had brief views of presumably the same dartfords as before as we headed back to the car, and somewhere in the distance a couple of ravens kronked away happily. A merlin flashed over as we drove to the second stop - a less successful attempt to find some purple sandpipers on rocks around Shell Bay and the ferry points. A couple of typically approachable sanderlings and a few shags were the highlights here.
Cutest calidrid apart from little stint.Pub lunch at the Bankes Arms in Studland village - two unexpected and unwelcome ring-necked parakeets overhead - before heading back to Swanage and out onto Durlston head. We took a longer walk than usual, the low winds making life a bit easier on the clifftops. It was quiet in terms of birds, the only birds of note on the outward leg being three bullfinches in the scrubby valley. The sea was millpond-calm, meaning the only seabirds visible were the resident shags and a single auk sp heading west - felt like a razorbill, but with bins only and at distance impossible to tell. There were no black-redstarts by the caves, but we had a couple of rock pipits and a calling chiffchaff slightly further along, and climbing back up to the carpark we had two firecrests. A quick rest on a bench gave us another dartford warbler, showing excellently on top of some gorse.
We finished the day with an evening meal at the always excellent Chilled Red in town, before heading across the road to the Red Lion for a couple of drinks. There was an old guy in there with an accordion bashing out some folky-classics in between drinks. Best pub in town, by a long shot. A great end to a great day's birding.
On the drive back today we stopped off at Longham Lakes on the northern edge of Bournemouth for this guy:
Showed rather better and for rather longer than the hoopoe at Rainham earlier in the year. Considering the recent snow and sub-zero temperatures it's doing pretty well for an insect/grubivorous ground feeder from the Mediterranean. If I thought they'd read this, I'd thank the helpful local birders who helped us find the right area of the lake, and the owners of the nearby pub where we stole the last parking space at peak Sunday-lunch service time...
Also present were a marsh tit calling from the hedges behind the hoopoe and a redhead smew on the partially frozen lake behind us.
Not a smew. Or a marsh tit.Of course, the only downside to excellent weekends like this one is that you have to return to the real world afterwards...
