White Stork and Common Redstarts, Charmouth / Stonebarrow Hill - 12 Aug 17

Firstly, a bit of a curiosity. A White Stork has been seen on several occasions recently near Langton Herring on the Fleet, Dorset. It had a green ring on its leg and it would appear to be of Polish origin having been rescued and taken into care in this country before being released. On Saturday morning at 9.20 I received a message from Mike M. that Alan B had just seen a White Stork on the move and heading westwards along the coast past West Bexington. I wasn't optimistic that the bird would hug the coast all the way to Charmouth but thought I would give it a go anyway. So how long does it take for a White Stork to fly from Bex to Charmouth? Well the answer seems to be about 1 hour! Around 10.25 the local Herring Gulls went up and at 10.27 I grabbed a couple of hasty shots (cropped below) as a White Stork overflew my garden heading NW inland without stopping. I called the local birders and quickly tweeted out the sighting but the bird was not seen after leaving Charmouth. Amazing that such a huge bird can disappear so easily and literally into "thin air". [Since writing the blog there have been probable sightings in North Devon (see www.devonbirds.org sightings feed on 15th August)]

So the timing would seem to be perfect that this was the same bird which had been tracked in and around the Fleet and passed West Bexington an hour earlier - the sick bird originally from Poland. As such it is not truly wild. Shame. It would have been a first for me in this country and a Garden tick aswell!!! Tskkk!

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Autumn migrants are showing in increasing numbers now. We've had a lot of unsettled, wet weather though late July and early August but Saturday evening was warm, still and sunny. Perhaps there would be some migrant birds about locally? I decide to take a quick walk up on Stonebarrow Hill. I'm so pleased I did as approaching a sheltered, sunny mixed hedgeline of hawthorn and blackthorn a flash of red showed a beautiful male Redstart. What a superb bird but there was more! A quick darting movement further down the hedgerow and a second bird flew out from cover into the paddock to take an insect  from the ground flying back to perch conspicuously on an electric fence. A male AND a female Redstart. What a treat! I haven't seen Redstart around that area since the spring so I assume that they are migrant birds who have finished breeding and are resting and feeding up before moving south.

... and a short video of the male bird.