Morden Bog & Lytchett Bay

Saturday 21st March

A cold but sunny morning for our walk from Sherford Bridge to Morden Bog.  

While waiting for everyone to arrive I watched a pair of Long-tailed Tits in the gorse opposite busily looking for insects.

As we walked down to the gate a Stonechat in the field to our right was flitting from the ground to a short piece of stubble.  Looking on down past the gate a Mistle Thrush hopped about, back to the other field a Kestrel was perched, our first raptor of the day.

Through the gate we could hear a Goldcrest singing close by as we watched a pair of Coal Tits.  I heard the call of a Red-legged Partridge but it was too distant to be seen.  the resident birds were all in evidence with Chaffinch, Wren, Robin, Blue and Great Tit.  A little further on as it opened out we heard our first Chiffchaff and we did manage some good views of them on our walk.  A Peregrine was perched on one of the pylons as it does quite regularly.  Later we saw him flying following a Buzzard but it was seen off, particularly with three pairs of Buzzard were soaring in this area.  The Peregrine zipped by only to return shortly after and perched back up on the pylon.

At the Boat House Lake there were no wintering ducks left but we had good numbers of Tufted Ducks and Little Grebes, a few Great Crested Grebes, Coot and Mallard.  It took a while before the pair of Grey Wagtails we regularly see here appeared albeit briefly for us.  Back on the heath we had a pair and a single Dartford Warbler and Meadow Pipit displaying.  On several occasions we had Siskins calling as they flew over with only one feeding close.  Our walk finished with a pair of Treecreepers found by Emma.

Sunday 22 March - Lytchett Bay

Nick and I had not been down to the new path over the fields at Lytchett Bay very recently opened up with viewpoints over the Pools.  We bumped into Ian who also regularly watches the bay and fields.  We were greeted by the sound of a singing Skylark as soon as we crossed the stile, such a wonderful sound, we put three up as we walked across the field.  A lone Black-tailed Godwit had been feeding unusually down this end of the field.  From the marshy grass areas a count of eight Snipe took flight.

As we arrived at the Sherford Pools Field viewpoint the first birds we saw were four Spoonbills roosting.  There were around 80 Teal feeding or resting here, a few Shelduck and Little Egret.  A Kestrel hunted by the A35 and a Buzzard soared over the wood.  We met a birder here who had arrived before us and had been lucky to see a ringtail Hen Harrier earlier.  All the the while were were being serenaded by displaying Greenfinch.

Over other areas we had Reed Buntings, a group of 21 Pied Wagtails, Meadow Pipits, Curlew, 26 Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and a Weasel that run across our path.

View of the Heath at Morden Bog