Visit to RSPB Radipole Lake 24th April 2013
After we left RSPB Arne we drove over to Weymouth to visit the Radipole Lake which has been modernised considerably since our last visit. They have got rid of the shop and now have a children’s activity centre and a toilet of their own. Previously you had to use the council toilets in the car park which were not always even open ! They still have the big panoramic window overlooking the lake. We walked around the entire site enjoying the walkways and new raised platforms that give you a view over the reedbeds. The singing of Reed Warblers and Sedge Warblers could be hear loudly coming out of the reedbeds and from trees Chiffchaffs called and we even heard a Cetti’s Warbler. Overhead Swallows swooped in large numbersOn the water there were Cormorants, Tufted Ducks and a Great Crested Grebe. We also got a good view of the remarkable Hooded Merganser that has apparently been living these for four years now. The website of the the UK400 Club British & Irish List refers to this bird thus :
After much deliberation, the drake HOODED MERGANSER at Radipole Lake (Dorset) has now been formally accepted on to Category D1 of the UK400 Club British & Irish List. Rather than departing this spring, the bird has chosen to stay at the reserve and has now moulted into eclipse plumage. Although the circumstances in which it first appeared in a storm drain near Ferrybridge were quite favourable for natural vagrancy, the fact that it has remained for so long and has chosen to accompany the local Mallard population in search of food perhaps indicate that it was of suspect origin.
So as far as we were concerned it was a good “tick” and a rather wonderful one at that – a most beautiful bird and not always seen. We were told by another birder that it thinks that it is a Tufted Duck and hangs out with them, though when we saw it it was on its own.
As we returned to the visitor centre we saw the Egyptian Goose that has taken up residence near the bridge on an island.
All in all we had a great afternoon, as much aural as visual, and it really felt as if spring had sprung.
Bird Sightings : RSPB Radipole Lake
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan | 6 |
| Canada Goose | 12 |
| Egyptian Goose | 1 |
| Shelduck | 8 |
| Gadwall | 4 |
| Mallard | 12 |
| Tufted Duck | 12 |
| Hooded Merganser | 1 |
| Cormorant | 8 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 1 |
| Moorhen | 4 |
| Coot | 4 |
| Herring Gull | 8 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 6 |
| Swallow | 10 |
| Cetti’s Warbler | 1 |
| Chiffchaff | 2 |
| Sedge Warbler | 1 |
| Reed Warbler | 2 |
| Blackbird | 4 |
| Greenfinch | 2 |
| Goldfinch | 4 |