7th April 2019 - Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire

With a recent downturn in the number of Dotterel seen on passage in the UK and it being one of the more obvious gaps in my UK list, news of a pair on the South Downs at Cheesefoot Head, near Winchester for their second day was too good an opportunity to miss. Dad and I arrived on site shortly after 10am to find the birds showing very well in a south-facing stony field no more than 20 metres or so in from the downland track where the assembled birders were gathered and fortunately oblivious to three trail bikes that went past just as we arrived. Both were in winter plumage though the female showed a few blotches of colour on the belly. Also, several Skylarks were heard singing and a single Swallow passed through north. On the way home a Red Kite was over the A272.

Female Dotterel, Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire