A trip to Dorset

I'm really not much of a twitcher and if a rarity is much more than an hour away from home I tend to think long and hard before generally losing interest. But when news broke on Twitter just over a week ago via Debby Saunders that her husband Pete had just found an adult Ross's Gull at Ferrybridge I was interested! Thankfully the bird did the decent thing and stuck around until the weekend when Amy Robjohns and I met up with Ollie Simms and Drew Lyness pre-dawn on Sunday and headed down to Weymouth. We were en route to Ferrybridge when Ed Stubbs alerted us to the fact the bird had been seen at Lodmoor (massive thanks to Ed for that, otherwise we would have likely missed it!) so we quickly detoured and within a minute or two of leaving the car we all had eyes on this stunning little gull.

Adult Ross's Gull, Lodmoor, 25th February

It was all too brief an encounter, however, as all the gulls kept getting spooked and after a couple of circuits of the lake the Ross's eventually gained height and headed out to sea. After a couple of hours spent pootling around the local area racking up a few new birds for the year (although I'm not year listing this year) - Shag, Gannet, Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, amongst others - news broke again just after we'd left the RSPB Radipole reserve that the bird was back on show at that very site, so we again did an about turn and joined the swelling crowd of birders watching the bird. This time it treated us to close and prolonged views of it swimming, preening and having the odd little fly about and we all left very happy indeed!

A meandering route home took us first to Morden Bog where we found the regular Great Grey Shrike but sadly no other heathland specialists of note - though a Snipe and a couple of Ravens were nice - before we headed on to Stanpit Marsh where the Stilt Sandpiper had just done a bunk and decided not to reappear for us before dusk. A Spotted Redshank was a nice consolation, however. A thoroughly enjoyable day in good company. I really should do this more often.