RSPB Radipole Lake : 26th April 2014

RSPB Radipole Lake : 26th April 2014

The weather forecast was none too promising but by the time I got to Radipole the rain had stopped and apart from the wind the weather was quite good and eventually sunny. I started off down the path where my first sighting was a Cetti’s Warbler that jumped out of the bushes and flew across the path. This was particularly amusing as I was in the middle of talking to a chap about them when it happened. He also commented that the wind was not very good for the spotting Reed Warblers and, indeed, I didn’t manage to see one all day although I heard a few.

I headed up to the North Hide and settled in there for an hour or so eventually getting very good views of a Marsh Harrier. Swallows and Sand Martins were flying over the water and a single Little Egret finished off a quiet, but pleasant, visit to the hide. I walked back down the path and eventually came to the small bridge that crosses over the narrow join of two of the bodies of water there. In amongst a small group of Tufted Ducks there was the Radipole Lake Hooded Merganser. This is a gorgeous bird and although some may say that it must be an escapee I prefer to think that it is a vagrant. I looked up Collins on this bird and it said that usually British and Irish and Icelandic (if memory serves) birds that are not obviously ringed are now normally regarded as vagrant so that was good enough for me. Anyway it is a fantastic bird.
As I watched this bird I ended up in an odd conversation with a dog owner who had two Terriers on leads but they were standing on the low wall of the bridge barking at the birds. A swan came along and started hissing at the dogs and the owner proceeded to berate the Swan for bothering his dogs. I pointed out this was a bird reserve and he said that his dogs enjoyed looking at the ducks and that the Swan was a pest for hissing at his dog. I merely pointed out that it was a bird reserve and this digs shouldn’t be barking at any birds. He clearly thought my view outlandish and we parted mutually bemused.
Anyway I wandered on and although I came back to the bridge later to see if I could see the Merganser again it had clearly got fed up being barked at. Wandering around for the next hour I tried in vain to d=see one of the singing Reed Warblers but with no luck. During one such period of staring intently into ungiving reed bed I heard a small noise in the bush next to me and as I crept around it I could see a bird hopping around inside it and when it eventually emerged and flew up and away it looked to be a Siskin – a bird I was not really expecting but was happy to see. Walking back down the path I also managed to see one of the few Chiffchaffs I had been hearing all afternoon.
The afternoon was wearing on and a cup of tea was called for so I headed back to the reception hut (which was having its roof re-thatched) and just before I got there – at the bridge near the reception – my attention was drawn to a single Sandwich Tern huddled against the wind and protecting itself by hiding behind a sculpture on one of the little islands.
This brought my afternoon at Radipole to an end; it was perhaps a little less teeming with birds than on previous occasions but I was content with the Marsh Harrier, the Hooded Merganser and the warblers I had seen or heard. For once I did not see a single Black-headed Gull. Presumably the Great and Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls put paid to them !

Bird Sightings : RSPB Radipole Lake