gryllosblog   Gryllo's (aka Ian Lewis') blog. All things to do with travel, wildlife especially birds, history, architecture and anything else that interests me.

Lytchett Bay at dawn

Stour Ringing Group have signed up to an international Aquatic Warbler investigation. This merely means that we commit to a ringing session in suitable habitat two or three times a week in late July – early September. However with the ongoing westerly airstream we have next to no chance in actually catching one. In fact no Aquatic have been trapped at Lytchett since August 1983.

We did however catch three juvenile Kingfishers, two retraps and one new one. Most years Kingfishers seem to pass rapidly through the Bay but this year some seem to be hanging around. A Grey Wagtail and a Garden Warbler were nice bonuses.

A couple of Kingfishers from Lytchett Bay

One of the ones we caught this morning

 

‘Sylvia fingers’ – if sylvia warblers eat blackberries, what goes in must come out!

A juvenile Grey Wagtail was a nice surprise

But the highlight of the morning was a fine adult male Honey Buzzard picked up by Shaun Robson. The ID of this bird proved hard to confirm as it flew from one dead branch to another over Holton Lee but eventually soared giving excellent views. Steve Smith was later able to pick up the same bird at Kingsbridge drifting towards Wareham Forest.

I didn’t have my big lens with me but this photo taken in the midlands by Alan Lewis and copied from the web, bears a striking similarity to our bird, even down to the missing primary in one wing.

Honey Buzzard – adult male