Sightings - Monday 2nd May 2011

In easterly winds seawatchers recorded a strong passage of waders, terns, skuas and divers from coastal sites today.

Long-tailed Duck - 2, Portland & Chesil
Merlin - 1, Hengistbury
Red Kite - 1, Woolsbarrow; 1-2 Lytchett Matravers; 1 Lytchett Bay
Osprey - 1, Morden Park Lake; 1, Brownsea
Cattle Egret - 1, Abbotsbury
Bar-tailed Godwit - marked passage offshore continues (e.g. 520 at Portland), with grounded birds at a variety of sites too
Whimbrel - 25, Stanpit; marked passage at offshore sites
Pomarine Skua - 3, Portland Harbour
Arctic Tern - 1, Lodmoor; 20+ Chesil
Black Tern - 9, Chesil
Swift - widely reported at coastal sites
Turtle Dove - 1, Brownsea
Red-rumped Swallow - 1, Lodmoor
Nightingale - 6, Ringstead
Wryneck - 1, Todber; 1 Hengistbury

Not avian, but of interest to many a Vagrant Emperor was recorded from a garden in Weymouth today

Purple Sandpiper at Lyme Regis © A Simmons




Vagrant Emperor at Weymouth © Brett Spencer

Wryneck at Todber © J Howell