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

With dreadful weather this morning it was lunchtime before I headed out. I soon heard that the two Long-billed Dowitchers, first found late yesterday afternoon at Lodmoor had been relocated, so I headed for Weymouth. Dorset was host to a juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher last winter, but seeing two together in the UK was something I had not seen before. It is likely that these birds were part of the influx of North American waders last autumn and may have been the same birds that were recently at Chew Valley Lake.

High winds and heavy showers at Lodmoor

Not much point in searching for Bearded Tits in a gale!

The two Dowitchers showed well, but a bit out of photos range

After checking for seabirds offshore I headed for Radipole to look at the gulls that gather in the late afternoon. I was delighted to find an adult Ring-billed Gull in the car park before I had even parked. I later found that Luke the warden had seen it earlier outside the visitor centre. I managed to take a few photos before someone walked right through the flock and flushed the lot! There appears to be two Ring-billed Gills visiting Radipole at the moment.

Adult Ring-billed Gull

Also in the car park many Common, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls, plus a few Mediterranean Gulls that were flushed before I could photograph them.