Hengistbury Head - 17th December

A sunny, but cold afternoon. Highlights were Goldeneye and Rock Pipit.

It was great to have a lovely sunny afternoon for the last Project Fred walk of 2007. After passing two Pied Wagtails and some singing Starlings by the café we found Wick Hams and the harbour to be pretty quiet. There were no birds feeding in the fields and a few Mallard and Teal with a couple of Wigeon keeping out of the wind by hiding beside the reedy shore line of Barn Blight. Over towards Stanpit we could see more Wigeon, Cormorants, Curlew, Oystercatcher, lots of Coot, and a few Black-tailed Godwit. Out in the middle of the harbour we found one female Goldeneye. We walked down towards the tip, seeing a few Long-tailed Tit in the wood on the way. In Holloways Dock Lagoon there were 17 Redshank, a Curlew and a female Mallard. Looking at the sea from the beach huts there was a few Cormorants on the posts at the end of each groyne and a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls flew over. Searching the rocky groynes we could only find a Rock Pipit and a Stonechat. A small flock of waders flew onto the beach so we wandered up to investigate. As well as a few Oystercatchers we could see 2 or 3 Dunlin. Jonathan insisted that there were about 70 birds there! He had a height advantage and once we stood on the dune where he was we could see a roost of a few Dunlin and many Ringed Plover sheltering out of the wind. On the way back we saw some Herring Gulls and a flock of Long-tailed Tit with a couple of Blue Tit in them.
Lastly, as we sat outside the café drinking coffee the Starlings sang in the sunshine to us.
Simon Curson