A call from local Birding mates, Mark & Mo Constantine, had me spending the afternoon trying to relocate a Melodious Warbler they had found at lunchtime at Greenlands Farm, on my Studland patch. Unfortunately, without any success. But the sun was out & there were some migrants around to keep me occupied & I was in the best corner of Greenlands Farm for migrants.
Spotted Flycatcher: Always happy to see these great looking Flycatchers
At one point, I had another local Birding mate, Jol Mitchell, on the phone checking up on the news on the Melodious Warbler. Once updated, Jol went on to point out that the Hurricane features on the previous blog post, was actually a 'clipped' wingtip Spitfire. I thought that all the Spitfires had rounded wings. But apparently some models, like the latest addition to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire TE311, had a 'clipped' wingtip: giving them a squarer ended wing shape. Jol went on to say that his son Joe & himself had been over to Bournemouth airport, as the Lancaster bombers were using that as a base, following their return from the Channel islands. Coincidentally, at that point, I heard a deep throbbing plane engine, that sounded similar to the Lancasters as they went over Littlesea a few days ago. But I couldn't see much of the sky where I was standing & I knew I would lose the phone signal if I was to try to get to a clearer view. So I stayed put & didn't think too much more about it. But about any hour later as I was leaving Greenlands, I picked up a Lancaster Bomber in the distance over Poole. Hadn't appreciated one was planned to be in the area this afternoon. It circled the area once, then did a second closer pass over Greenlands Farm & Littlesea, before heading off in the direction of Bournemouth. As I hadn't planned to try & get to any of the events it was appearing at then I hadn't expected to see it again, so it was a real bonus to have a second private air display of the Canadian Lancaster over Studland. I haven't been able to figure out which plane or planes that I heard whilst speaking to Jol.
Canadian Lancaster: VRA showing the Victoria Cross markings below the cockpit
Canadian Lancaster: A real bonus seeing it again & it made up for the 3 hours spent looking for the Melodious Warbler
Canadian Lancaster: It will be over the Goodwood Revival Festival in Sussex on the 14 Sept so keep your eyes open in the South on that day
I finished the day with a short watch from the High hide at Littlesea, Studland, where I saw the Great White Egret again (but more on that in a future post), as well as, my first 2 Brent Geese flying South as they return for the Winter.
Spotted Flycatcher: It stuck to this perch where I had a narrow photographic gap in the bushes
Spotted Flycatcher: But eventually I moved around to get a better angle