Joe's Andover Birding

9th February - Cold weather patching.

2012-02-09T17:22:00.003Z

Ventured out to Anton Lakes this morning, It was Bitterly cold and flakes of snow fell most of the time. As I worked my way round a Drake Shoveler and 3 Teal were on the far bank the first being new for the year. Only small numbers of gulls and diving ducks loafed around on the main lake but a slightly larger gull caught my attention, it was a Common Gull asleep on the ice. A few moments later a Large gull made a few low swoops of the lake, it wasn't a Lesser Black-back but too dark to be a Herring, Yellow-legged! it then departed to the south before landing. The rest of the walk was fairly quiet but Meadow Pipit flew over and a Cormorant did too, both being year ticks. This also flew over my head, I'm undecided, or just overenthusiastic?
A Cetti's was at Rooksbury as was 42 Gadwall which was a good count, here is a couple of shots of the common gull.

31st January - Local

2012-02-01T00:11:00.003Z

Ending up on the patch wasn't really planned but with 5 minutes spare I decided to have a quick wander around Harewood, It was a pretty decent Idea as Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was located within seconds of me arriving, I must admit it was quite a surprise as I only went to look at some recent felling! A few Redpoll flew over whilst I wandered which also added another tick to the local list. This evening I was playing billiards out at Goodworth Clatford, as I drove in I flushed a Barn Owl, it flew across the road and disappeared into the darkness. A rather unexpected tick as I didn't have a site for these!

29th January - NFWBS and Blashford

2012-01-30T18:09:00.005Z

Once again, I find myself on a motorway heading off for an afternoon's Birding. It's the New Forest Winter Bird Survey weekend and I must be Honest I wasn't really feeling it this month. Nothing other than the Dark Eyed Junco is being reported from the forest and the last count I did there was nothing there! So when I arrived at a pre-survey twitch just down the road at Harbridge I was really glad to see the Whooper Swan which has been present since the early part of this month, Also Bewick's was present, showing considerably better than the Whooper. After a quick cup of coffee and a sausage roll I started my survey, It's not a bad area, or at least I didn't think it was until I started surveying it! After nearly 2 hours of just 2 Stonechat and 2 Dartford Warbler I was really fed up, I decided to check the moor just to the south of my patch (annoyingly it looks better than mine!) my mood lifted pretty quickly on just my first scan, it revealed a lovely Great-grey Shrike! It always stayed distant at at least 500 meters range but I watched it for a good 20 minutes from the main road.

Distant but decent views.

After another hour I'd had enough, it was cold, damp and didn't feel great so decided to sit at Ibsley Water with my flask and have a good look for the Caspian Gull. 2 Adult Meds were seen at range and then there was a phone call, someone was reporting the Casp on Ibsley north! So with a screech of tires and smokey clutch I belted up there, on arrival I could see Andy Johnson at the front who allowed me to view the bird through his scope. This was perfect timing as 30% flock departed south (including the Casp) There was also 4 Yellow Legged Gull Present and a couple also On Ibsley later on whilst looking for white wingers.

Above Photo Copyright-Andy Johnson

23rd January - Hayling, Gosport and Local

2012-01-23T17:14:00.003Z

With a seemingly long staying Shore Lark present at Hayling Oyster beds I decided to take a trip east (not that I could really afford it) I left Basingstoke at around 7:15 and was in the Hayling Carpark at 8:30. I started off the wrong way and walked left instead of right, this however led to some decent birding anyway with plenty of Waders and Gulls to sift through. Once I realized that I was stood in the wrong place I found the Oyster Beds and viewed the correct island, no sign of the Shore Lark at first glance, checking offshore there was a group of about 10 Black Necked Grebe, Plenty of Mergs and a few GC Grebes. Fortunately I picked up the bird coming in from the east, It then landed 0n the Marker Island and showed well at least until I left. I then popped over to the other side of the water and visited Gosport to look for the Iceland Gulls which have been present, and also the Ring-billed Gull which returns every winter. Unfortunately they Icelands didn't wish to show but as always the Ringer was happy to Oblige.

Annoyingly I'd Left my brand new camera at home!

Later in the day I headed out locally to look for lapwings, I found 3 just down the road which was a bonus, Bumping into another local birder helped as he revealed a Green Sandpiper had been wintering about 5 minutes from my house! Then Barn and Short Eared owl showed well at Bransbury in the evening.

Digiscoped with my new camera well after sunset!!! I'm going to like this one!

16th January - Patchlist and the Patch

2012-01-16T18:43:00.004Z

Managed to grab quite a few hours out on the 5x5 patch today, mainly in the south eastern corner to try and pick up farmland birds. I started off at 9:45 down at Rooksbury where no more than Bulfinch and Chiffchaff were really of note, from here I took myself up to Harewood Forest to look for some Woodland birds, fortunately this was considerably more productive with most of my target species being picked up (although Lesser Redpoll avoided me!) Further on at Cowdown a Linnet flock of around 80 fed with House Sparrows in the stubble field, this is the highest count of Linnet I've had at this site for some time, then from Cowdown hill I could just about pick up some birds in fields quite distantly, I moved a bit closer and scoped them to reveal Golden Plover. Anton Lakes was quite quiet with only Herring Gull and Water Rail adding themselves to the Yearlist, I'll have to make another trip to nail Reed Bunting and Potentially Jack Snipe.

Abotts Ann Cress Beds were very quiet with only Mallards and a Grey Heron present, Fortunately Anna Valley beds were more Productive with a flock of 8 Teal (quite a good count for this area)

Finally Red Rice added yellowhammer and Lesser Black-backed Gull to end the day at just after 3:15, This has now put me on 65, so Just over 50% of my target Achieved already!

For those of you who might be interested, here's a few shots of a couple of the sites visited today

Red Rice, Good for Hen Harrier

Rooksbury Main Lake

Rooksbury Small lake

Harewood Forest, Silver Burch plantation (Lesser Spotted Wood is regular here)

Cowdown Hill, Viewed from Harewood

Anton Lakes, Annoyingly better than Rooksbury Mill

14th January- Filthy Twitching

2012-01-14T21:22:00.004Z

As is always the same at this time of the year I get really twitchy, so when news of a Spanish Sparrow at Calshot reached me I could hardly contain myself, Plans were made to hit the site at dawn on Monday to hopefully nail the bird as it came from roost to feed. As I cut through the approach road to the sea front carpark I could see one birder was on site already! I sauntered up to find Kelvin Pearce had the same plan as me, we quickly worked out where the bird was being seen and waited to be joined by others including Nigel Jones and Tony Davis. Within an hour the light had improved and sparrows were moving, around 15 Birders were Gathered at the corner of Calshot Close when A couple of us suddenly caught glimpse of the bird flying in and sit partially obscured, but It was there, a Spanish Sparrow and a handsome brute too! It took flight and landed almost in the open part of a bush, here it sat preening for a good 10 minutes and excellent views were obtained by all.

I've just had a few days with Mary in Brighton, Whilst on route I managed to have a quick glimpse of the Cattle Egret at Warblington, I noticed the bird Fly in as I got out of the car, took a couple of shots and tried to get closer... Unfortunately the Egret didn't mind but the dozen close cattle took offence and the Egret did one...

7th January

2012-01-07T21:27:00.002Z

As I drove into work this morning peering out of the window, wishing I was heading to the coast a Starling Jumped onto my yearlist, Now I find this a bit weird, A whole week passed before I saw a starling? This time last year I was nudging 100 and within a few more days 120 was reached. This year seems so much more relaxed! My patch yearlist is currently sat on a huge 5, and the county total is a rather soft 57... I might get started at some point, although I can say for definite I'm not doing a big year! On the Plus side I also saw a peregrine this morning from the top of my work carpark, as It flew through It came within 15 feet in pursuit of a Feral Pigeon.

Fudge that I'm off!

2012-01-02T22:06:00.003Z

My new years day was shit! I wanted to be out birding, either doing a bird race or having a crack at the Dark-eyed Junco which was reported to me on the early part of New years eve. Unfortunately retail is an evil mistress and who felt it necessary for me to waste my time stood doing nothing! so any chance of birding was quashed. However I did have the 2nd off so put together plans of starting the Y******t, There was potential of a Lifer and 2 County ticks lurking too! I made my way to Blashford for the morning, this though was after a slightly longer lay-in than expected! I parked up and looked at my phone, A text Glared at me "Dark-eyed Junco Reported again, Hawkhill Enclosure" Leaving it a few minuted I decided to try for the Fudge Duck and then see what happens, It turned out to be a bit of a tick and run, the Junco was reported again and after watching the duck for about 5 seconds I ran to the car!

It took quite some time to travel across the Forest, some people just don't understand when theres a Twitch on! after a couple of detours I finally Arrived on site, there was quite a few people buzzing around, and the bird had been seen occasionally so hopes were high, 2 hours later though things were looking somewhat bleaker! A Short-eared owl was seen after it was flushed from cover and this provided brief excitement. Then the Junco was called! and it called too! It flew up from the pines and sat in a silver birch right in front of us! it was then seen for the next 10 minutes where I took some rather ropey photos ( not even good enough to qualify as a record shot!) It then got a little flighty so I left soon after, A Hen Harrier was seen from Hatchet Pond and I drove my Car into a ditch! Good start to the year!

The end of 2011

2011-12-29T19:50:00.003Z

Well, It seems 2011 decided it would fly past, apart from the last few months I Birded at least 4 times a week. What with my county yearlisting, twitching and trips to Cornwall and Portland It’s been a fun filled and rather expensive year!

The Yearlist;
I’ve driven at least 7000 miles in search of county birds, gone through more cans of relentless and Redbull than a supermarket, missed countless numbers of speed cameras, dipped some stupid birds (more than once) and found a few along the way, spent more money on petrol than food! And even picked up a few cheeky tart ticks along the way. I’ve finished up on 223, 3 More than the original target but 7 short of the re-adjusted number… Unfortunately it just got silly, the prospect of £25 twitching a Red-necked Grebe or £20 on Snow Bunting just seemed ridiculous so I gave up towards the end of October.

Ticks n’ Dips;
The Earlier Part of the year started off brilliantly, Oriental Turtle Dove, Long-billed Dowitcher, Red-breasted Goose, White-tailed Eagle (4th Attempt) Short-toed Lark, Red-Flanked Bluetail and Fudge Duck all ticked off up to the beginning of April. Stilt Sandpiper in July was unexpected but then after this my luck began to change slightly with a tick coming from the sea at the end of august (Great Shearwater) being overshadowed by missing a Little Shearwater past Porthgwarra on our last day and me seemingly ignoring a Ringtail Harrier Sp. At PG in the afternoon. It improved slightly in July when I connected with a Temmink’s Stint in Hampshire but the run was short-lived when we dipped the Cornwall Greater Yellowlegs! Though this seemed like a pretty soft dip as I boarded the Scillonion back to Cornwall after missing Northern Waterthrush, Boltimore Oriole and B+W Warbler… Portland on the way home made things slightly brighter with a Blyth’s Reed Warbler during the week.

Self-Found Year;
Not been a bad year for me again this year, Lapland Bunting, Red-rumped Swallow, Glaucous Gull, Serin, Rough Legged Buzzard and could probably stick my name on a couple of Sabine’s gull, Pomarine Skua, and other slightly common Seabirds.

Next year;
A bit more “green” local birding for me next year, 5x5km square incorporating my main haunts in and around Andover, A good Idea drawn up by Rich Ford and hopefully will be a real good laugh! I’m going to limit the county yearlist to just something I keep, I’m not going mad, I just don’t have to! I’ve also met the most amazing girl too, so my recklessness will have to be settled a bit! She’s also a photographer who seems to be slightly more enthusiastic than me not too mention owning better gear! You can check out her website here

I’ll keep posting next year, although You might get bored of one tick a week!

14th November

2011-11-14T14:48:00.003Z

My birding has recently taken a bit of a back seat, and I hadn't planned to go today either but with things not going to plan I decided to take myself off to the coast. There wasn't much planning involved, I just jumped in the car and left. Annoyingly the weather was a little on the bad side, Hurst beach appeared to be shrouded in mist and the Isle of White was a murky blob, it seemed I'd made a rather foolish decision... But I was there to look for birds and that was what I did!

no longer than 10 minutes after climbing onto the spit a Wheatear shot past me, in the middle of November? My nerves tingled as I franticly attempted to locate it. As I peered over the side there it was a very worn, nicely posed Northern Wheatear, Bugger! The rest of the morning was very quiet with only a Kittiwake and a few Common Scoter to get my Notebook out! As I trudged back to the car I checked the rocks for Purple Sandpipers, to my surprise there was one, sat right out in the open allowing for a close approach. After this the fog rolled in and I gave up...

25th October

2011-10-25T19:43:00.003+01:00

Right, 223 will have to do I can't continue my yearlist, or at least the way in which I started it! Obviously I'll still try and pick up the last little bits but it's that time of year when my birding becomes a bit limited. I popped down to Portland today to do some more ringing, we didn't catch too many birds but I did ring a couple of new ones for me. The afternoon became wet and the nets were furled, just in time for a Snow Bunting to be found in the Pullpit carpark which then went on to show down to 4 foot! Whilst on my way back I visited a site where a Yellow-browed Warbler had bee seen this morning and a few days previous, I struggled in the rain but after a clever bit of phishing the bird muttered a few call notes, then a full blast of tssuu-weet, I then managed to locate it feeding in a sycamore.

Portland 24th sept- 1st October

2011-10-02T13:49:00.007+01:00

Scilly Decision…

It’s very easy to make good decisions, It’s just has easy to make bad ones. As I boarded the Scillonian on Thursday 22nd I believed a good decision had been made, after 2 hours and Breakfast resting in a sick bag I wasn’t wholly convinced. Disembarking on St Mary’s quay the buzz was back, the twitch was on! At the dump it became apparent as to why RBA were advising Wellingtons, it was horrible AND no sign of the Northern Waterthrush since AM so not much time was spent here, I just didn’t want to waste time on negative news…

I’m not writing too much more about Scilly, I dipped almost everything, only scant consolation was drawn with a flyover Bea-eater. I pick up again at Davidstow Airfield, this time attempting Buff-breasted Sandpiper, A few waders were noted, as was Peregrine, Not Buff-breast though. I had to make a decision at this point, stick around in Cornwall with the vein hope something would turn up or head east to Portland, the latter was decided

It’s amazing that still after many dips, 450 miles and siting £85 lighter, driving down Portland Bill road I had a massive smile on my face. It wasn’t just the prospect of still having 8 days of solid birding remaining but spending a week with good company and boozy evenings is always something to look forward to, the evening was spent in the pub with a meal and a few beers.

I got up at 6:15 on Saturday morning and made a cuppa, soon to be joined by Stephen Menzie who’d driven down from London, he set off to do some ringing so I went out to look for some decent birds, I came back with news of Siskins, Redpolls, Yellow Wagtail, 2 Tree Pipit and 3 Whinchat, riveting. A nice Pied Fly was bought up to the obs for a quick showing before release and that was it really, a very quiet start! So with news of a Red-Backed Shrike at Lodmoor I decided to go and take a look, It was worth it with close up views of a nice Juvenile. Once back at the obs I had a Black Tern pass on the sea, as did a Balearic Shearwater.

Sunday morning dawned much the same way as the day before, light southerly wind with not a lot going on, the day was fairly slow with 8 Whinchat, Perigrine, 2 Brent Goose, a Hobby, 2 Spotted Fly and a Pied Fly and it didn’t get any better so we had a slap-up meal and a few glasses of vino.

Monday was a little better but the morning was very hard going with just a Black-throated Diver through on the sea but finally though, whilst stood chatting I picked up a bird calling to the left of me, asking everyone to be quiet I realized it was a Lapland Bunting! A nice self found tick from the middle of a lazy afternoon.

Tuesday was foggy, although it had a half decent feel to it with the wind swinging round to a light South Easterly. After 2 hours of nothing more than 3 cups of tea there was some hushed conversation but nothing seemed to come of it. I’d just put some bacon on when a shout of Blyth’s Reed Warbler came through the kitchen! Running about trying to grab my camera gear the relief came when it was in Martin’s hand! I hadn’t put the conversation and the bird together. It was then released and subsequently seen rather well in the field, although some how evading my camera!

Wednesday was one of the quietest day’s I’ve seen returning only with a Garden Warbler, 4 Whinchat and 2 Reed Warbler.

Thursday was a little better, It was very warm with temperatures up to 22 in the shade the usual migrants were seen with a few singles over of Yellow Wagtail, Tree Pipit and a couple of whinchat dotted around. A Short-eared Owl was then seen across the road albeit at a distance, I later tried to photograph it and did a little better the second time around. Later in the day at lunchtime we receive a phonecall from Martin at the grove to alert us of a dark Buzzard Sp heading our way. It was picked up and flew right over our heads, I photographed it and after a little confusion it was confirmed as a Honey Buzzard. We also had a few Hobby go out to sea and an evening seawatch bought an adult Sabine’s Gull off the back of a trawler.

Friday, Hot and sunny again and very bad birding, Yellow Wagtail and Redpolls aside no other birds were really seen. A few Clouded yellow butterfly were seen, and quite a few nice moths were caught overnight which of which I have forgotten their names.

Saturday was supposed to be the day I went home, I had planned to drive to the Semipalmated Sandpiper in Hampshire but that had gone missing so stayed the day, It was a good call with Nightingale and Redstart both seen in the hand, a few hobby were going out again and a Willow Warbler was calling at the bottom of the obs garden.

13th September

2011-09-14T20:49:00.003+01:00

I went to Cornwall, I saw a nice Sabine's Gull...
Wrong Fucking Genus...

17th September

2011-09-12T17:33:00.003+01:00

I don't like getting up early, unfortunately it seems all I've done this year is get up before 5! Managed it once again though an Found myself having a race to Milford Shelter, Ashley Howe won only to find Barry Goater and Graham Barret sat in the best spot! Things looked bleak from the start and it was tough going, with a quick clean of my optics I picked up a close DP Arctic Skua. The weather began to clear and at this point a Shearwater was seen by GB, myself and Ash were able to confirm it as a Balearic, Whilst trying to relocate it another Shear came bombing through this turned out to be a Manx (after running down to get a better view) it was still very slow going until a brief moment of excitement when GB (again!) got me onto a Shearwater at range, we both tried to guide others onto it whilst realizing it was a Sooty!!! I gave up 15 minutes later and headed out onto the marsh. The Grey Phalarope was showing well still on Fishtail lagoon, 5 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Little Stint, 69 Knot, 52 Grey Plover, 2 Barwit and a lot of Ringed Plover and Dunlin.

I had edited this video but uploaded the original. TIT!

31st August

2011-09-01T18:33:00.006+01:00

Most of the time I consider myself to not be a mad twitcher and a fairly sane county lister *

A quick Facebook session arranged some birding with Chris Burch to Farlington Marshes, For some reason I'd managed not to catch up with Curlew Sand in Hampshire, luckily a few have been around and with two at FM it was an easy choice. We arrived early morning with the intention of bagging the Sands and then have a good thrash around for some migrants. On the main lake were the 2 Sandpipers, a Ruff and a few Black Tailed Godwit, which unfortunately were then flushed by a Sparrowhawk. Dotted around the reserve was a good selection of common migrants, Redstart, Whinchat, Spotted Fly and Willow Warbler. From here we headed off to look for a "reported" Red-knecked Grebe off Broadmarsh-Why I even bothered I have not a clue...

I cooked up some Beans once I got home, stuck them on toast and grated half a pound of cheese. I received two messages in quick succession, both telling me about a Temmink's Stint. I gobbled up my lunch and threw my stuff back in the car, arriving at Farlington Marshes I felt a feeling of dejavu- Can't think why. After what seemed like a marathon I joined AH, AJ, RF and IW where distant but reasonable views of the bird were obtained for over an hour, It then Departed coinciding quite nicely with the arrival of a Juv Little Gull, which seemed pretty funny at the time. As it flew off NW I managed to grab a quick shot...
* And then sometimes days like this happen, my sanity was certainly questioned when I arrived home...

Cornwall- Seawatch SW and Pendeen Watch

2011-08-30T10:55:00.005+01:00

Friday 00:15 I run to my car in yet more torrential rain, I slump in and open a can of Red Bull. I was leaving for Ashley Howe’s house so we could drive down to Cornwall, after a pretty slow and slightly interesting drive I arrived and we loaded up his car. The rain had stopped by the time we left and only one more pulse of heavy rain caught us on the western side of Southampton. Friday 05:35 Porthgwarra car park and 2 foxes bundle around, we arrive to the sight of Oliver Metcalf and Tim Jones getting ready, Disappointingly they’d had some sleep. The first sea watch was from Gwenap head from here we had;

1 Cory’s Shearwater (only Identified By Ash)
3 Great Shearwater
11 Balearic Shearwater
10 Storm Petrel
10 Sooty Shearwater
500+ Manx Shearwater

Pendeen in the afternoon as the wind switched NW

1 Sabine’s Gull – (1s only seen by me and for a few seconds before losing it!)
3 Great Shearwater
10,000 Manx Shearwater
10 Balearic Shearwater
2 Arctic Skua
1 Great Skua
1 Basking Shark

Awesome Great Shear digiscoping

We then went for fish and chips, bought some tinnys and then headed to kenijack valley for some sleep. The next day we went straight to Pendeen, as the forecast was looking good, my totals were as follows (for the whole day)

Great Shearwater 1
Balearic Shearwater 5
Pomarine Skua 2
Arctic Skua 10
Great Skua 7
Sooty Shearwater 16
Sabine’s Gull 1 -(1s seen by myself, ashley and Ollie, moved west for 3 minutes@18: 30)

Next was a trip to Hayle where a Little Stint and Curlew Sand were seen along with a couple of Med Gull and Common Sandpiper, We then received news of a Black Kite at the Lizard and with 2 out of 4 of us needing it we headed for it, once located the bird showed very well over fields just to the west of Lizard village.
Pub for beers and food in the evening to watch MOTD, Rattler on tap, Gammon Egg and Chips… Sorted! We were up early again for a watch at Pendeen and after 3 Pints of Rattler I didn’t feel amazing, Plans changed though and we headed to Porthgwarra, this was a mistake though and from here we only managed a couple of Sooty Shears from 2 Different viewpoints, off we went back to Pendeen.

Sooty Shearwater 1
Balearic Shearwater 2
Sabine’s Gull 1 – 9:40 west, Found by Brett R and most of us got onto it
Arctic Skua 3
Great Skua 2

We popped over to Drift Res in the afternoon but this was shit so we went back to PG for more Sea watching. I wanted to go and look for migrants so I left them to It and wandered for a little while I didn’t see a lot though (Or at least I didn’t Identify a lot) lack of sleep kicked in and I wasn’t really feeling any more birding so I sat at PG cove for more Sea watching, Brett Joined me and from here we had;

Roseate Tern 1- (ad west close in)
Sooty Shear 17
Balearic Shear 1
Great Skua 1
Arctic Tern 1
Chough 2

Both of us gave up at 19:45 just as another chap appeared and went to the cove, I cracked a beer and had a kip. Ash burst into the car at 20:30 asking how long I’d been asleep for, he then blurted “did you get the Little Shear? “ I swore a lot but thankfully I wasn’t the only one to miss it as no one at Gwenap Managed to nail the Shear, it was only viewed from PG Cove and seemingly not visible further round. We then went to the pub for some food and more beers; I mentioned something, which didn’t go down to well but by this point it was too late…

Pendeen for an hour in the morning, Skua passage was good but it was very cold and we gave up in search of a Fry up.

Pomarine Skua 1
Bonxie 5
Arctic Skua 4
Sooty Shearwater 3

Cirl Buntings were picked up in Devon at Broadsands, this was a tick for Tim but whilst getting there waiting in an hours traffic wasn’t really what we needed! Heading home 2 Wryneck were on the pager for Portland so we were aiming for there, whilst this would have been nice News of another at Hook-with-warsash in Hampshire put pay to our visit and we went there instead. It showed wonderfully well down to 20 foot at times!

In all a fantastic weekend with some really good blokes, Bring on the autumn now!

18th August

2011-08-18T18:21:00.003+01:00

tor·ren·tialAdjective

1. (of rain) Falling rapidly and in copious quantities.

2. (of water) Flowing rapidly and with force

Probably the best way I could describe the rain today.

I fell out of bed at just after 10 as my phone kept going off, bleery eyed I read Sabine's Gull. This woke me up rather quickly! 30 Minutes later I was on my way, the rain was steady but not too bad, as I wound my way south it seemed to get worse and by the time I hit the M27 it was nearing biblical levels! I pushed on but it got worse and worse, the A31 was down to a crawl due to 6 inches of standing water so I turned off and took the back roads. Big mistake, Flooding on every road! I made it to the site though and Joined Andy Johnson grilling the gulls, It soon became apparent though that the bird wasn't visible, after 15 minutes we were DROWNED! and both slumped into Andy's car. We were joined by Dan Hoare, Ashley Howe and Tony Davis, Andy picked up the bird in flight but only he saw it, and 5 minutes later the same happened! So we moved on a little further and it was called, we all managed to nail it! SABINE'S GULL in the bag...

The drive home was even worse, Cars breaking down, an X5 floated after trying to cross a flood (which I'd have gone through had I not seen him do it) and after the soaking I got it was done half naked...

Some tremendous photo's here http://www.lookatthebirds.co.uk/blog/index.asp although taken in our neighboring county.

8th August

2011-08-08T18:07:00.002+01:00

I decided on some early morning fishing so birding was limited to heard only, although this did yield my first Willow Warbler since spring. After being up so early I wanted some rest in the afternoon So I sat down with some lunch and checked RBA, It revealed a Red-crested Pochard at Ibsley water yesterday, I couldn't really work up the enthusiasm to go unless it was reported again and had a quick nap. I woke and checked again, this time a report for today, Excellent! I drove over and the roads were fairly clear so it only took 40 minutes. I managed to locate the bird, an eclipse drake (Which not realizing actually is very similar to a duck) also on Ibsley water was the colour ringed Great-white Egret, a Winter Plumage Black-necked Grebe and a Black Swan (my first in hants-not that it means anything)

1st August...

2011-08-01T19:35:00.002+01:00

It is really! August, I can smell 220, It's that close now! 7 more year ticks are needed for me to hit my target although that wouldn't be enough as by that point I'll have the top 10 All time Hampshire Yearlists in sight... Bugger.

So, Recently things have started to pick up again and I've seen the first trickle of migrants on the pager, and with this time of year comes my second shot at Terns. Both Roseate and Black Tern eluded me through the spring, they were seen on every seawatch I didn't partake in. With both being seen off Tichfield haven last week I decided on a Morning session at the rather wet and stormy looking south coast reserve, On site I saw another chap wander past me, greetings passed I had a quick chat with him but unfortunately he hadn't seen any Roseates. A quick check further up the beach revealed one so I called him over and enjoyed 15 minutes of a ringed Adult on the beach.
I wandered along the beach a little and had a minute with Mark Palmer who said there had been two Black Tern a few minutes before, I then Spent the next couple of hours looking. A few of us were lucky to latch onto a GWE coming in off the sea! Trying from a different vantage point I was joined by Chunky and after 20 minutes I picked up 2 Black Tern offshore, and then one came in and landed on the island in front. 213!

26th July

2011-07-26T15:00:00.005+01:00

24th July

2011-07-26T08:58:00.003+01:00

Gripping

It's been quiet around here, Not many Birds, Butterflies aren't too amazing around here, Twitching Orchids just seems wrong and I'm resisting the draw of Mothing. So when news of a Stilt Sandpiper in Dorset broke I jumped at the chance, My boss gave me the day off as I wasn't going to make it in until 1 anyway. I drove down to Ashley's for 3, here also arrived Lee Fuller and we jumped in Ash's car. With some interesting maneuvers and roundabout heroics we arrived pretty quickly. Onsite we soon realized where to view from and wandered towards the "hump". From here reasonable views of a stunning bird were had for over an hour, It was accompanied by a couple of Green Sands, a Juv Med Gull and a few Snipe.

The evening was spent at Tichfield Haven for Roseate Tern, We dipped, Ash and Lee got a Black Tern whilst I wasn't paying attention...

5th July

2011-07-07T18:33:00.003+01:00

Managed to pick up another year tick this weekend just gone with Nightjar in the New Forest. Butterlfies were aplenty at Harewood Forest on the Monday with lots of Silver washed and Dark Green Fritillary also White Admiral were Plentiful.

3rd July

2011-07-04T07:50:00.002+01:00

29th June

2011-06-29T22:34:00.002+01:00

23rd June

2011-06-23T20:57:00.001+01:00

What else do you do this time of year?... Surprisingly all at Rooksbury

2nd June

2011-06-02T16:55:00.003+01:00

Well, 6 Months into my yearlist and my 209th species has fallen, Caspian Gull. A real one this time! Lots of time put in today and it payed off, I didn't locate the bird myself and didn't really expect to. Ash picked it up wandering around obviously just emerging from cover, Got me onto it and it promptly sat down for 15 minutes and didn't do anything. For around 10 seconds at a time it would raise it's head revealing it's big long bill, sloping head and the go back to sleep. It then stood up once more and the ID was agreed, 4 Minutes later it flew from view although giving a good view as it did so. I also went looking for a reported Hoopoe but didn't manage to find it, Hawfinch and woodlark were seen though, I'm now sat at home nursing a burnt neck and a really fuzzy head... I thought I'd learned my lesson before...

31st May

2011-05-31T20:47:00.002+01:00

A few weeks since my last year tick and suddenly 2 were on the cards, Honey Buzzards have been available for a couple of weeks now although I've struggled to catch up with any. As I was leaving Andover this morning my phone buzzed so I picked up a coffee on the way and checked it, there has been since Saturday a Caspian Gull at Lower Test Marshes. I arrived on site at 9:20 Checked the gulls and found a bird which I was happy with, photographed it, took some notes and off I went. Honey Buzzards were seen after a few hours at a Raptor Viewpoint with two birds displaying and a third drifted through. Goshawk, Tree pipit and a pair of Woodlark were in the adjacent area. Back at Lower test to meet Ash, I had a quick walk around the marsh but didn't see anything other than a colour ringed Oyc. (i'll Post the details when I receive them) Then back at the warfe joining IW I'd hoped he had the bird, but, no sign of the Caspian... and after reviewing my images and a few comments I'm retracting my sighting from earlier in the day... I hate Gulls. A good days birding nonetheless as 2 Corn Bunting and a Perigrine were seen in the evening too

6th may-30th may

2011-05-30T20:49:00.003+01:00

Well, May, what can I say? Damp squib? Total disappointment? or over hyped? I think the first two sum it up for me, the third is said as a result of the previous statements. Things were plowing on nicely with the yearlist tally seriously picking up at the end of April leading into may, but it died completely.
Now I'm not going to grumble at seeing my first Pectoral Sandpiper, nor the fact it was in Hampshire but seriously, is that all we get. I didn't have the heart to go galavanting up to Norfolk for Rare snipe, I was too skint to contemplate the Audouin's Gull in Suffolk and that big pink Finch in devon required too much effort.

So the birds since my last update;
Pectoral Sandpiper obviously the Highlight, Seen well on a Saturday afternoon after a superbly clear run from Andover to Keyhaven. This came in after a night of storms, as did a couple of hundred swifts in 20 minutes when checking Rooksbury early Morning.

Osprey at Fishlake Meadows, I'm really beginning to like this place and getting Osprey Views better than Lower Test Marshes in September is a bonus. It showed Continually all morning whilst on site, with good views of Gropper and Garden warbler this turned out to be a worthwhile trip.

Spotted Flycatcher, Seemingly a migrant bird as there is no sign of breeders at Rooksbury this year.

Manx Shearwater; Hampshire tick! Pretty decent seawatch with Ash the other morning, Even if we did start at 4:45 it was worth while with at least 10 Birds seen. Loads of Razorbill and also good numbers of Guillimot, a couple of Fulmar and Plenty of Gannet.

I promise to update a bit more through the summer, Hopefully when I find that Montagu's Harrier...

5th-6th may

2011-05-06T18:17:00.002+01:00

More seawatching, a little more productive on the 5th than the 6th... Not even a page filled on each day though...
... Such a wonderful county to stare at the waves from.

3rd may

2011-05-03T20:59:00.002+01:00

I found a Rough-legged Buzzard, I can't say much more. It didn't take much finding, just a bit of luck and lots of textbook markings. Pretty happy to have done so and photograph it too, with a few un-photographed claims in the winter I was happy to get such diagnostic photos.

29th April - 2nd May

2011-05-03T12:47:00.005+01:00

Easterly wind, It's a bitch, although it brings much better seawatching it brings a nasty chill with it! I'd been keeping an eye on things throughout the week and Friday was looking pretty hot, so, with my alarm set for 4:30 I packed the car and headed off to bed. 4:45 and I was ready to leave so I drove off early but stopped to listen for owls on the way out, 2 Tawny's were giving it some along my road, it turned 5 so I left them to it and drove to Hurst. The seawatch was good, around 20 were on site mid morning and we enjoyed good views of a Pale Arctic Skua, around 300 Barwit, numbers of other wader was also fairly good with Whimbrel, Sanderling, LRP, Green + Common Sand, Knot and dunlin.
Saturday birding with Stephen Menzie, I seawatched again and at last it paid off with 4 Velvet Scoter and Pomarine Skua being seen, along with other common seabirds and a few yellow wag in off. On the marsh Stephen got Little stint and Curew Sand, Niether of which were seen by me unfortunately, although I did come across a smart drake Garganey and a summer Plumage Sanderling. We spent the rest of the day up in the Forest where A couple of Wood Warbler were on territory, a few pairs of Redstart showed well and a Goshawk was heard. Cracking Fish and chips from lymington in the evening eaten with the surrounds of Hatchet Pond.
Sunday, No seawatching, after saturday I felt it unnecessary so we went to look for Little Stint and 4 Birds were present on Jetty Lagoon, A Pochard dropped in briefly and a yellow wag came in off and landed. In the forest, this was quickly ruined by a text from SI revealing a Wood Sand at Farlington, We left straight away and I nailed the bird on the deeps (with the relocating being done by Tony Davis) We then Went to look for Nightjar but I saw sod all and Stephen saw some dartfords and an Adder.
Monday, Lesser Spotted wood was our alarm call, and at 7 we left for home. Stephen dropped me off and had a bit of brekkie and he left. I then did some family stuff which was due unfortunately this was interupted by some Dotterel (I've got to stop being selfish...) 4 Birds were Present 2 ADfem and 2 ADml showing nicely before hunkering down due to the wind.

Top Quality Birding! Oh yeah, and the yearlist has broken 200! Get in!

26th/27th April

2011-04-27T20:21:00.004+01:00

Seawatching again, Pretty dire again. Black-throated Diver and Bonxie were the main highlights although Fulmar was a Hampshire tick... I pitched up at 6:10 again no one else until gone seven when Marc Moody, Mike Duffy and Someone Else Joined me, We didn't see much at all... a few Dunlin and that was it! I headed out onto the marsh in search of a migrant or two, no Garganey, Stints or much else for that matter, It's about time this North Easterly wind swings!

Today I was Shopping in John Lewis with my sister when I recieved a message to say there was a Long-tailed Duck drifting off Hurst Beach, Dropping everything we went for it, Sad I know but If I'm to have any chance of a big county yearlist it's birds like that which will make the difference. We got it thankfully although distant, Tart tick in the bag ;)

Green Hairstreak, Stockbridge Down.

21st April

2011-04-24T08:08:00.003+01:00

I like seawatching, I particularly like it when birds are streaming past at a tremendous rate. Hampshire Is not a good place to witness this however, arriving at 6:00am at Cut-bridge I wasn't expecting any spectacles, although the odd Arctic Skua or even the first Poms should have been moving in such a light easterly. I Pitched Up my chair and as I was setting up my scope some terns were passing, 7 Common and trailing Behind were 2 Arctic, Brilliant, the birds parted from the Commons and headed up over Hurst Beach. A few minutes later an Adult Little Gull Past west at medium range. The Rest of the Sewatch was pretty boring, More Terns with both Sandwich and Little were added, 3 Razorbill flew East, 3 Whimbrel, a few Common Scoter and a Yellow Wagtail.
I gave up at 9:30 and moved onto the marsh where Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Avocet, Ruff, Little, Common and Sandwhich Tern, Little Ringed Plover and Dartford Warbler were all seen. After this I popped into the New Forest I drove into Bolderwood Ornamental Drive and parked up in a new spot for me, Here I located at least one Singing Wood Warbler and a Firecrest. On my way home I tried my luck at Fishlake Meadows for Hobby as one was reported the previous day. Gropper and Nightingale were Singing away and after 5 Minutes a Hobby flew low past me and started hawking above the trees.

**th April

2011-04-16T19:54:00.003+01:00

Managed to Pin down the very mobile and dog walker favorite Black Stork of the new forest, I was en route to Farlington Marshes attempting to twitch the singing Savi's, Ash Howe phoned to reveal a report coming from acres down, The Black Stork seemed twitchable! After a very clear motorway run and a dash across the Forest I was at Acres. Nigel Jones was on site already and we were soon to be Joined By a few other familiar faces and pitched up on the viewpoint, 2 hours past and more people arrived when suddenly it was called! Mass panic ensued as half of us couldn't get on it! Nicking the finders scope (thanks dan) I watched it enough to get the location, scoped it with my own for a further few minutes although very distantly and it dropped out of sight as easy as it arrived.

12th-14th April

2011-04-14T19:29:00.002+01:00

Petrol is too fucking expensive! I've driven less than 200 miles this week and It's cost £30... Although it's nailed me a few more yearticks landing me nicely on 182 for hampshire, it's just not the point! Had I not spent £1.36 and £1.38 this week i reckon I'd be on 185, Bastards.

Rant over.

Portland Photos

2011-04-12T19:36:00.004+01:00

Velvet Scoter

Arctic Skua "dark phase"

Ring Ouzels at Barleycrates

Great Northern Diver

Skylark

Male Redstart

One of the best sunrises...

Puffin

Red-throated Diver

4th-9th April

2011-04-09T18:52:00.002+01:00

Portland, a place which I have fallen In love with… I did so quite a few years ago but now I’m old enough to think seriously about moving away my mind is ticking. This has all been sparked from my recent week away, I spent the weeks staying at the obs, always a laugh and a perfect place to be based for some hardcore birding. I started out at 4am on Monday morning expecting the drive to take 2 hours, averaging 75 where I could put pay to that, I picked up a bite to eat from an interesting shop and pulled up at the obs. People were only just waking up so I set myself down with a cuppa and waited for it to get light. I had a quick chat with a few guys and then headed off down to look for the Short-toed Lark, after 20 Minutes I got bored and went for a seawatch. Only Kittiwake were noted. I’d seen Glen appear behind me who pointed out the Shot-toed’s Presence, at which point I broke into a canter (I ran In the end) the bird then showed superbly for me and around 10 others including a few faces which looked familiar. The rest of the day was a fairly routine migrant fare with Yellow Wag north, a few Swallows Trickling through and on the sea Sandwich Tern, Common Scoter and 1 each of Red and Black Throated Diver. The evening was spent with Curry, Red Wine, Fizzy Wine and a few Pints, Needless to say I felt quite mashed when it came to going to sleep. My Second day started at a more reasonable time of 6am although after the night before I could have stayed there all morning. I tried seawatching from the bill, from here a Few Scoter flew through plus Bonxie and a RT Diver. My hangover, Cold weather and rain was too much to bear so I headed to the obs for a cuppa. Walking across the common I was struck by a pale gull, which I’d only seen as I was about 5 foot from it! It was a white winger, Glaucous to be Precise. A cracking little self found bird, although it’s ID was queried somewhat as It flew past the seawatchers… On the land throughout the day there was a few Wheatear, Black Redstart and a House Martin moving in quite a strong passage of Hirundines. The evening was spent somewhat pissed again, Top stuff! Day three, the 6th. I can’t remember it being too eventful; It was pretty dire all day with Tree Pipit being the best bird, although as the day Progressed the chances of Osprey became apparent, So Myself, Glen and the Prof sat it out on the patio. We all fell asleep and I got nicely burnt… No Osprey Either! Day four and things were picking up, Redstarts were present in the garden and the Hut Fields with 5 Birds seen, the sea was pretty quiet although 7 Red Throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter and a Manx Shearwater. On the Land a Yellow Wagtail Passed over but couldn’t have landed. Glen and I popped Over to Lodmoor where plenty of Sedge Warbler were in and a Marsh Harrier displayed distantly, also Still Present was the LB Dowitcher.

Day Five and My last full day, It looked good from the onset and I had a really good feeling about the day’s migrant potential. Good Numbers of Phylloscs were being ringed at the obs, I stuck it out with a few others until a Serin was reported from Easton Duncan kindly drove us up where we failed to connect with it. Duncan’s brother revealed a Winchat at Barleycrates Lane, which we went over for, walking back to the car I quickly glimpsed a Pied Fly which disappeared as soon as it appeared. From Barleycrates we saw the Winchat with lots of Redstarts, 2 Ring Ouzel , 1 Lesser Redpoll, at least 1 Greenland Type Wheatear and a Buzzard got the shit kicked out of it by a Raven. The obs in the afternoon, Martin trapped the lark! what a little stunner, a proper Highlight. Osprey Watch again with 8 of us on the patio, dozing again I saw a Hirundine, which flew towards me. “SHIT, RED RUMPED SWALLOW” I launched off the chair, ran into the obs causing havock, grabbed my camera and ran after it! Martin was in front of me on the bird, I fired off some shots and the bird had gone. My second Red-rump and the second I have found! Whilst sat drinking a beer in the evening a Serin flew past us! Another self found bird and on the same day! I went home the next day but the morning seawatch produced a few Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Arctic Skua 2, and a Velvet Scoter. A fantastic stay this week, time to start job hunting… I'll Upload some more Pics when I've been through them all, A couple of days I reckon.

April 2nd

2011-04-02T14:47:00.005+01:00

After my trip to Portland yesterday I only really fancied a quiet day, but with a Feruginous Duck turning up in Swindon and a Leach's Petrel in Theale I was heading out. I stuck £20 in the tank and as I was leaving the Leach's was reported as no sign, Swindon it was. The bird showed well on the main lake, associating with Tufted Duck for the morning. Travelling back on the A34 I noticed my pager flashing, I glimpsed at it and read “ Dorset- RED-...” I looked properly to reveal RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL, Durlston Country Park. I pulled into the A34 services, already past the Andover turnoff (deciding I’d go before thinking about it) Bought some Red Bull and a Nutri Grain bar and off I went. Rufous stone, stuck another £20 in and within a couple of hours I’d driven from Swindon to Swanage... The bird was elusive for most of the time but did show quite well for about 30 Seconds giving pretty good views.

April 1st

2011-04-01T19:13:00.006+01:00

The first Portland trip was planned and friday was the day. Chris Burch picked me up at 6 and we trundled on down. Lodmoor RSPB had the usual fair, Shelduck, Oystercatcher and Long-billed Dowicher... A tick for chris, and would have been rude not to! On the island itself the weather was very bad, and a couple of miles walking wasn't rewarded with anything. I decided a seawatch was in order and after 20 minutes of optic soaking and bollock freezing we decided a cuppa was a bloody good idea, after 3 cups of tea and a monster bacon sarnie we took a walk down to the bill. From here we instantly struck into a Diver, although it's identification was a little slow...

Summer Plumage RT Diver

Also seen whilst seawatching, Manx Shearwater, Great Skua, Common Scoter 67, Fulmar 15, Puffin, Razorbill 100+, Guillimot45, Kittiwake, Shag, Red-throated Diver 7, and some Wheatear- Oddly.
On the land we had around 25 Wheatear, a couple of Willow Warbler, Female Black Redstart and a few Swallow.

A very wet Wheatear... Straight in off

30th March

2011-03-30T18:59:00.002+01:00

4:30am, Up, Dressed, Coffee sunk and off to ASDA for the days provisions. 5:55 I pick up Nick Montegriffo and we head down to Hurst. Setting up at 7:15 Things looked almost promising especially when 15 Common Scoter were located ofshore. During the morning we had another 2,5 and 6 Fly through, an Unidentified Shearwater was in view distantly for around 5-10 seconds before Landing on the water, too Distant to ID. 2 Red Throated Diver Flew East then landed on the water, affording a pretty rubbish view, a Perigrine headed out to sea and presumably the same bird then came back east. Nick had 20 Bar-tailed Godwit (I was worrying about the Sheawater SP.) A couple of Raven Were seen too. Keyhaven, I have no other words to Describe than Shyte, Shyte, Shyte. We took an utter soaking for 20 Sand Martin (which did follow my theory that Hirundines run ahead of bad weather) and a Swallow- Putting Nick on 170 and leaving me at 169! Ibsley Water was fairly quiet until a Little Gull was located feeding near the Gull Island, also 3 Little Ringed Plover zipped about for some time.

A Proper Total up the other night, 169 For the year. 200 By the middle of may please...

29th March

2011-03-29T19:15:00.003+01:00

If you hadn't guessed already I'm on holiday, hence the daily Birding! I didn't manage any yearticks today, after my excellent run of 4 in 3 days It was bound to happen. Spent an hour at Rooksbury this morning, 4 Willow Warbler singing, 5 male Blackcap, 9 Chiffchaff. I then took a gamble on there being some early Ring Ouzel at Beacon Hill (Highclere) unfortunately the gamble didn't pay out and I left with a couple of Wheatear... Back at Rooksbury this afternoon a rain shower past through, Bringing with it 3 Swallow and 2 Sand Martin (Also a Hirundine which looked to be a House Martin before vanishing) another Swallow past through an hour later.

View From the Western Slope

28th March

2011-03-28T17:14:00.004+01:00

Needing to pick something up from work which I'd left behind I took this as a good excuse to visit Fleet pond, Little Gull have been turning up here for the last few days. This morning did not disappoint with a winter plumage Adult bird loafing around the Pond. Rooksbury Had a couple of Willow Warblers and I managed to Locate at least 2 Stone Curlew in the Afternoon.

They never show Close-

26/27th March

2011-03-26T07:41:00.003Z

As you can see, Spoonbill ticked. A dash Down to farlington Marshes for dawn saw it bagged at 6:10. This morning (27th) My first Willow Warbler was in subsong at rooksbury, I never Pinned it down but It was later seen.

I'm a filthy lister... 165

23rd March

2011-03-23T18:50:00.003Z

3 Yearticks. Wheatear, Swallow and Little ringed Plover, Here are some photos from today. I'll write something else soon but at the moment I'm shattered!

22nd March

2011-03-22T18:50:00.002Z

Fairly local today as I'll be out trying to clear up tomorrow, Popped out to Palestine for the morning hoping to connect with a couple of year ticks. This is normally quite a good area for early Wheatear, none seen though, and no sign of my other target species! 3-4 Grey Partridge flushed and 3 pairs of Corn Bunting were seen.

16th March

2011-03-16T17:11:00.004Z

Not much seen today, dropped into Anton lakes for the first time this year, this yielded a Reed Bunting, Common Buzzard and quite a few Large Gull Sp. I then Decided to go and look for some Wheatear on Stockbridge Common, On the way up a large number of Gulls were sat in a filed, I pulled over to check through them, 165 BH, 2 Med and 5 each of Common and Herring. Stockbridge common had nothing of note, apart from a twat from the national trust informing me all the Wheatear passed through in January...

THAT HYBRID...

It seems as though this bird has been doing the rounds, although there could be a few very similar looking to birds knocking around...

http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures.asp?v=1&off=289514&r=1&st=0&q=0

and

http://www.digitalwildlife.co.uk/birds/waterfowlhybrid.htm

Thanks to Richard Ford for pointing these out...

15th March

2011-03-15T16:07:00.005Z

Many thanks to All who contributed guidance for Denny Wood, At 6:50 this morning a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was drumming well and again at 7:08, So at last I managed a year tick there! I then popped down to Keyhaven to see the Ruff which are residing mainly on Fishtail. I arrived at about 8:30 and then Struggled to Locate any, But 3-4 Water Pipit Showed well. I finally caught up with the Ringed individual on the Long lagoon next to Butts (jetty?) 2 Slavonian Grebe were showing well from the seawall. 2 More Ruff were seen on Fishtail walking back to the car. Quickly dropping by Redbridge wharf was worthwhile with a Common Sand feeding along the far bank.

Don't Click on these... I lost My good Digiscoping camera...

I popped into Rooksbury to check out a Scaup Reported to me in the morning. It turned out to be some Sort of Aythya Hybrid, Pochard x Tuftie Is my impression of the bird, A Sand Martin was over the main lake for a little while too…

... Slightly Better DSLR Shots...

9th March

2011-03-13T09:11:00.002Z

Harewood forest. It had been a while since I payed a visit to this wonderful habitat so I checked The weather forecast and it seemed OK, Loaded up the car and made the short trip to the other side of town and parked at Cowdown farm. Imediately stepping out of the car a large flock of around 75 Linnet took flight, ans 4 Common Buzzard circled overhead. As I walked down the track towards the forest a small Bird of prey caught my eye, scoping it revealed a Merlin, which unfortunately didn't want to hang around. In the Forest Numerous Siskin, Brambling, Redpoll and Goldfinch flocks buzzed through the treetops, No sign of any Lesser Spotted Woodpecker though, Good numbers of Marsh Tit appeared to be paired up which is always nice to see.
With the weather looking nice I decided to go out to Netherton Bottom and Photograph Willow Tit, Unfortunately None showed, A Raven flew around calling. I could hear Redpoll calling, as I wandered along I found the Flock, this contained 3 Mealy, Further flocks were heard distantly son the area may well be worth further visits...

8th March

2011-03-08T18:53:00.003Z

With stunning weather forecast and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker showing itself on a regular basis I decided yet another visit to Blashford lakes would be a plan. Loading up my car it took me 20 minutes to find my bins, but I was still leaving before 7:15 and on course to arrive for about 8am. I needed some fuel and got myself stuck in traffic! Arriving at Blashford just after 9 I wasn’t pleased! The lesser spot wouldn’t show though, although I could hear it drumming and another chap said it was calling. Plenty of Brambling, Lesser Redpoll, Nuthatch and Treecreeper kept me entertained. From Hurst castle I managed 15 Common Scoter, Red Throated Diver, 3 Auk sp and 2 Shag. Lower Pennington lane didn’t hold any Parakeets, but a smart Firecrest put a smile on my face. Lower test marshes put Green Sand Piper on my Year List but I ran out of time for Common as a Red Necked Grebe had been reported off hayling Island. I drove down there with a police escort, which was rather annoying! Even more annoying was dipping the RN grebe! Although a Bonxie harassing a couple of Gulls before heading off east was a small conselation…

157 On for the year now, Lots of miles and lots of money... How do the UK listers do it?

21st February

2011-02-21T13:13:00.001Z

Dirty yeartick...

Residing on the county border Is a cattle field, In this field are some Egrets, 7 of them to be precise. Now the thing is 2 Of them are Cattle Egret, a Decent Year tick when viewed whilst in Hampshire. Yet another drive towards Blashford, I turned off at Fordingbridge and Headed west, Soon I arrived at the Crossroads, Parked and had a little walk. It didn't take long to find the gate to view from and about 2 seconds to locate the Egrets. A quick check on ViewRanger revealed I was in Hampshire and one of the birds was stood ON the border! It never became a Hampshire bird but by Hants listing rules It's number 153 for the year.

February 17th: Oriental Turtle Dove

2011-02-17T11:03:00.003Z

So, A34, Monday Afternoon and a Mega Alert. I pull into the services before my turn off to check the info. MEGA, Oriental Turtle Dove, Chpping Norton. More info comes through a few minutes later, with this I turn out of the services and head on home. A couple of comments on me not wanting to go see it were only down to it's viewing circumstances, The next day it's seen by a few and dipped by many. Wednesday, ORIENTAL TURTLE DOVE, Back on the pager, any work I was supposed to do was wrecked, I wanted to leave! 4AM and I was preparing to hit the road, Can of Relentless in one hand and Sat Nav in the other. I arrive in Chipping Norton and park up next to Ashley Howe, try and sleep with large amounts of caffeine coursing and then not bother.

I've Got it, I proclaimed, then Did Ash. WOOOOOOOP I'd seen it, I was Happy, Overjoyed! But Wanted Better, 10 Minutes later better views were gained at a small fee, a small melee of birders from hants, Myself, Kelvin Peirce, Ashley Howe and Mike Duffy, Why couldn't we be stood watching this in hants! It was poorly photographed through a window but I didn't care, this was the Biggest buzz I'd ever felt!

14th February

2011-02-14T15:23:00.005Z

First stop of the morning was at Mercer Way in Romsey, this being a wintering site for Hawfinch. Once I had parked up (thanks Nick) I crossed onto the green area where the birds reside, at least 25 Brambling were in the trees along with good numbers of Redwing and Chaffinch. It didn't take me long to hear and then locate a Hawfinch, A beast of a bird showing well until it flew to a higher tree! I then drove on down to Pig Bush to once again try for Great Grey Shrike, as I drove from Beaulieu road station A bird was perched up near the roadside... SHRIKE! Attempt number 7 and I'd managed to find one, after a dodgy parking maneuver I launched out of the car and scoped the bird at around 50m range, At times it showed down to 25m but with bright sunlight I struggled to photograph it.

Popping along to keyhaven for A ruff was a long shot, not much to be seen really just 9 Spotshanks, a Few Med Gulls, Greenshank and a Red-breasted Goose... I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, Another chap who was wandering and photographing the brents stumbled across it on keyhaven lagoon. He then left and not long after he did so around 100 of the brent took flight as did the RBG, for them to disappear north! At Bransbury Common this evening A Short Eared Owl appeared in near darkness, a Barn Owl was also seen as were two woodcock.

10th February

2011-02-10T14:39:00.003Z

I'm not good a sitting still, with the rain gushing from the sky it seemed all I'd do today would be sit. A break in the rain mid morning left me driving for yearticks again, just local stuff though and Corn Bunting was the first target. After an hour of getting soaked and walking in mud I came across 4 birds sat in a bush. After my success here I fancied my chances with Willow Tit, It took 2 hours and various sites before I found one, Just a single bird but a Willow Tit. At the various sites visited Marsh Tit, Goldcrest, Bulfinch, Brambling, Coal Tit, Raven and Nuthatch were in residence, I didn't mind getting a soaking having managed both my target species!

8th February

2011-02-08T15:48:00.005Z

As you can see I ventured out of county for the first time this year, the temptation of Dorset's long staying, re-locating Long Billed Dowitcher was too great. I had the Dentist in the morning so I didn't set off until 10, The roads were fairly quiet and completed the trip in just over an hour. I parked next to a bridge which seemed far to tight to drive under? How I fitted I don't know! Walking the lake edge A kingfisher peeped past me, 11 Common Gull and a few Black Headed made use of the getty. As I turned a corner around 10 Birders were lined up, Long Billed Dowitcher was a new bird for me! It showed superbly all morning, down to a few feet! Ring Billed Gull was called from across the road, I quickly hopped across to see my second of the year, in 1W plumage this time.

RB Gull

Enlarge these, it's worth it!

After the performers I headed for Blashford lakes to try and nail the GWE, It also showed well from the Ivy lake Viewing screen. A Fem Smew still fished on Rockford lake. Next I tried a few sites for Great Grey Shrike, Once again though I dipped! A Goshawk was seen in flight from a known viewpoint. Near Stoney Cross whilst looking for GG I picked Up a Dartford Warbler, A bird I didn't really expect after the cold winter we have had. An hour spent at Beaulieu RD resulted in No shrike but a flyover Crossbill and Raven were nice.

February 1st

2011-02-02T15:39:00.005Z

Dank, Dreary and not very promising would be how to describe the weather, But parked up in chilling car park myself and Chris Burch were up for a decent day anyway. Crossing onto the roadway we were greeted by some very showy Waxwings, More than were present the week previous they allowed superb views once again. Once on the coast a dissapointing lack of brent geese was evident, none on the Solent and none in the adjacent fields. A Brief Sea scan from the Cliffs revealed a drake Eider, 14 RB Merganser, Slavonian Grebe, 68 Great Crested and a Guillemot, The latter being Hants Year tick 140! Searching Brownich pond left us Bitternless so it was off to Walpole Park for "waldo".

What? I couldn't resist...

Upon arrival we were greeted with no gulls... a quick trip to Morrisons loaded us up with bread and a couple of pork pies for me. This brought in Gulls but not the Ring-Billed, After a very close encounter with a Mute Swan it was time to have a look on the creek, were were told by another birder that he thought he'd seen it here. A very thorough check through the gulls left us pretty empty handed although an Adult Mediterranean Gull was on the water.

.Chris Burch.

Farlington Marshes, Although Promising at first with 7 Avocet on the Mud the weather Quickly Turned and it was time to call it. Lower Test was the next stop, Hoping to connect with Green and Common Sand before we tried the 3rd Scrape 2 Black Tailed Godwit Flushed from the flooded Grass, but on the scrape no birds other than a Water Rail. 2nd Scrape, a Male Stonechat was feeding at the back, best bird here was a Flyover Water Pipit. From the Hide all that could be seen were a few Teal, a Cetti's Warbler called as did a few Reed Buntings. Running out of time I thought we should go have a look for Bittern at Testwood Lakes, What a good Idea that was...

144 for the year now, Bring on the spring!

January 27th

2011-01-27T14:43:00.004Z

119 miles for Mealy Redpol, Black Redstart and Yellow Legged Gull. This basically sums up my morning, I gave up in the end with it being so cold and so dire. 13 Bewick's Swan were at Harbridge. The Mealy was visiting a feeder at the woodland hide, 4 YLG drifted through ibsley water and settled for a brief stop. And the Black Redstart was on a tire heap on a farm near Stockbridge.

January 24th

2011-01-24T13:23:00.007Z

After a nice easy drive down (thanks Mike et al) I arrived in the brownich area and parked at Thatchers coppice. Crossing onto the concerete path a Waxwing flew over my head, 50 meters further on 7 Birds were present and showing very well. Not really knowing where to go I followed the path, this lead me down to the shoreline where there were c.65 brent geese, In this flock was also the Red—Breasted goose. For the 15 minutes I watched it the bird took flight on it's own and flew in a big circuit landing back with the brents.

Tichfield haven bridge. Good numbers of Pochard and Tufted Duck Present, Also the two (fem?) Scaup were here, awake and preening towards the far reed-bed. From the shoreline a Slavonion Greebe could be seen fishing off the "island"

Walpole Boating lake. It took only minutes to connect with the Ring-billed Gull where it came to bread and was very confiding.

A brief drop in to a local wood near home, this had Little owl and Marsh Tit, both being new for the year.

Bransbury Common In the evening, 2 Ringtail Hen Harriers and 2 Barn Owl before it started raining.

January 19th

2011-01-19T18:38:00.004Z

Starting out fairly late after a lay in, Willow Tit was my target in the north at Netherton Bottom. I failed, but 6 Bulfinch in one bush was a highlight. I had to drop some keys off in basingstoke this afternoon so whilst on the M3 heading home, I decided to drive down to Hayling Island to try and catch up with the Red-Knecked Grebe which has been present, no sign unfortunately, but 10+ Slav Grebe, 1 BN Grebe, a Black Throated Diver, Razorbill, 2 Great Northern Diver and a Kittiwake were present off the seafront.

Bransbury Common in the evening where i was joined by Nigel Jones, I spent a good hour here, this Yielded 4 Barn Owl and Ringtail Hen harrier, numerous woodcock flushed from the path and grey partridge called for some of the evening.
Sorry about the quality, ISO 1600 and 1/40th!

130 up

January 15th

2011-01-16T18:46:00.005Z

Saturday, booked off for a day's birding with the Prawn Cocktail Birder and Menzie. Leaving mine at 8:15 we arrived In Hedge End around 9. Hordle was our first stop, my 2nd visit in a week! I pulled up and we all sauntered around a bit, I checked a large bird flying west in the tree line... White-Tailed Eagle get on my List! disappearing after 5 seconds It was mentioned to the gathered masses, Did any of them raise their bins?

A brief stop to look at Lapland Buntings gave some entertainment as one chap struggled to ID a Skylark, 3 were noted although I only saw a female. Plenty of Dunlin were present as were a few Ringed Plover, Turnstone and Oystercatcher, Brent Goose were in good numbers too.

Somewhere down a lane near Pennington 33 White Fronted Geese were in residence, as was a Massive Pile of dog shyte so watch you step when visiting these birds. Ibsley water next, It failed to deliver. Rockford Had a single Redhead Smew which showed well at a distance. Other birds of note were Brambling and Lesser Redpoll.

The evening consisted of Fish and Chips, Carlsberg export and various Birding websites!

123 up

I did the driving!

January 10th

2011-01-10T18:00:00.002Z

White Tailed Eagles and myself have quite a bad history, dipping the Cholderton bird a few years back is still fresh in my memory. So, with a juvenile pitching up residence near Keyhaven I just had to pay a visit. Leaving my place at 7am I had to fill up with Fuel and then was on the road by 7:15, a fairly easy drive down stopping first at Cut-bridge, Milford on sea. This is where a flock of Lapland buntings are wintering, also I hoped to get a few winter seabirds from Hurst Beach. 5 Lapland bunting was a low count so I stuck with that, also in the field were a few Reed Bunting, Skylark, Rock and Meadow Pipits and good numbers of Linnet. The sea was rough, it was very windy and unpleasant, in 15 minutes I had picked up 2 Red-throated Diver and 3 Common Scoter, it was enough!

Hordle, arriving at 9:45 I found 4 birders present but no sign of the Eagle and after 2- 1/2 hours I jacked it in to rack up the yearlist. Keyhaven and Pennington held Slavonian Grebe, Eider, RB Merganser, Knot, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Turnstone and so on. Back at hordle I decided not to stick around until, I found a large bird of prey doing a U-turn. Spanking it down the road to alert the crowd to what I had seen, after an appalling u-turn and 500 meters in seconds the chaps behind and I saw the bird disappear into the trees, No idea what it was, Just a Big Bird Of Prey. They were happy with It being the Eagle, I wasn't :(

New Forest, Hatchet moor is one of my favorite places and it only took a few minutes to nail a Ringtail Hen quartering the heath for a few minutes before disappearing, 4 Common Crosbill could be heard in the area and a Merlin Flew across the road as I drove away. On the way back I decided to get lost in Romsey, a few minutes and a phonecall later I managed to find my last target bird for the day, Smew!
120 Up

January 5th

2011-01-05T15:48:00.002Z

Took myself off to blashford this morning in the hope of a few yearticks and target birds of Smew, Bewicks Swan, Goosander and Bittern. Arriving at 9:35 after a rather tedious drive behind 3 Tractors and a quick look for some Cattle Egrets I couldn't find any Bewicks swan in the usual place, so I drove further on and viewed the river where 2 Birds were in view for around 5 minutes. At blashford I looked over Ibsley water first, Goldeneye and Common Gull being the targets from tern hide, both were on show. Next stop Rockford Lake for the "redhead" Smew, After nearly 20 minutes of non-stop searching I couldn't find any Smew, But a Black-Tailed Godwit did a couple of loops. A Bittern Showed For all of 5 seconds in the Ivy north Hide, although later news suggests I should have stayed...

Burley my next stop, could not locate a Great-Grey Shrike but a Meadow Pipit and Pied wagtail were in the carpark. Deciding that I was failing at finding any of my target birds I headed to Romsey to search for another Smew, Parking where I shouldn't only left me with a short time to look, I found nothing. Driving home I quickly dropped into Mostisfont to see if the GWE had reappeared, It hadn't... So I headed Home with my total up to 77

To start the year

2011-01-04T16:48:00.003Z

1st of Jan: Shocking, Only one word to describe day one on my travels to 220. I had to work unfortunately, although I left early and too the long walk up to Andover station. I managed to see 5 Species! One of which was in My garden, a Blackcap. On the train I added Kestrel, Red Kite and a couple of other common and identifiable from an 80mph train species.

4th of Jan: Paid for and collected my lovely new Fiesta. In the morning I headed down to Rooksbury where I saw 33 New birds for the year, nearly all crap, all common. Not quite all crap as there are still a few Brambling hanging around. I went for a drive in the afternoon in the hope of Corn Bunting, Dip...

2010 Has now finished. Review Pt1

2011-01-01T20:55:00.003Z

This, a post containing my end of year review coincides with my 200th blog post, although please don't get excited, it'll be no better than normal. I'm currently sat, January the 1st having seen a total of 16 species, A slow start to a year in which I would like to see 220 species in Hampshire. enough about 2011, I'll bore you with that for the next 12 months.

JANUARY didn't see me do much birding, being off work for 1/3 of the month should have helped had I not been laid up in bed, the fact I was sick stuck me to patch birding for the most part, I started very quickly to nail patch tick after patch tick, enough to keep the hardest of patch watchers happy.

FEBRUARY 2 Lifers on the board before the 10th, Smew and Tunda Bean Goose were seen on the 9th both of which were new for me, also seen on the 9th were 1 possibly 2 Twite in the north of Hampshire. Other than this I didn't do a lot of birding (hardly surprising I failed to see 200 In hants!)

MARCH Started of really shit, I dipped A Bufflehead In Dorset, this upset me and I refused to twitch it again, even though it stayed for at least a week! Through march a few Migrants began to trickle through and in the middle of the month a Brent Goose rocked up and spent the day at rooksbury! Willow Warblers were in song by the end of the moth, and then... You get a mental day Lesser Kestrel, Palid Swift and Two-barred Crosbill felt like a dream!

APRIL 2nd, on my way home I come across Brian and Tony watching a very smart 1s male Pied Fly at the end of barlows lake. Excelent! Local gropper, Lesser whitethroat and a Driving licence came my way in April too.

MAY had two top class days birding and twitching with Ashley Howe this one in Kent with Dan Houghton has to hold one of my birding highlights, Kipping in the car and waking to a Purple Heron flypast... then this beast turned up.

JUNE is a crap month, not just because I spent ages chasing reports of a booted eagle but nothing turns up! and I didn't see anything other than quail!

Pt 2 will contain July-December, I'm too tired.

12 Days of christmas

2010-12-28T20:47:00.002Z

Right, this at first seemed like a cool idea. I was going to be cooking up 12 blog posts, one fore each day of Christmas, each of these were to contain 12 different Experiences from 2010, a little like last years top ten but in theory better. Unfortunately I fucked up, well I forgot, and as the chap who saw me at work the other day (I recognized you but I forgot your name) can vouch, I've been a trifle busy selling lots of cameras, I'll pop some nice posts on before the year ends and even post some photos.

Recently

2010-12-05T19:16:00.004Z

Waxwing in Andover:

What with not having much time recently my efforts have been somewhat lacking, Rooksbury over the last couple of weeks has yielded patch ticks in the form of Water Pipit and Short Eared Owl, Both fly-overs but little crackers none the less.

Well, my last proper update consisted of my work schedule, well, it's changed at least, although with a rather odd twist, I'm off to Basingstoke! And this is it for the next 3 months...

One from earlier in the year.

2010-11-23T13:43:00.002Z

I have a blog?

2010-11-19T20:58:00.003Z

Sorry, I seem to have forgotten this existed. Since, erm a while ago I've taken over as manager at Jessops andover, It's knackered me out to be honest and birding as been a bit slow, I've only managed a few quick sessions at Rooksbury, although one of which held a Water Pipit, My first in Andover.

So, Now to this, as you can imagine a new job has sent me a little bit mental. I've been wound up day after day by incompetent half wits who insert batteries the wrong way round in their cameras. I came home and checked my mail, blogs and Birdguides, and found this http://notquitescilly.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-is-point-of-this.html, What a fucking bellend.

Gavin, You've been kind.

I'll be back soon, my boss will be back in Andover and I can have a decent work schedule back.

Twitchers- A very British obsession

2010-11-02T18:41:00.004Z

Now here's the thing, I was eager to watch this and slate it, I'll be honest! But, at 10pm last night after watching the documentary containing, George Micheal, Gordon Brown, some family, and a weird bloke who is insane and can't ID gulls, I felt it wasn't a wasted hour. Never have a laughed so much at a documentary! It was just hilarious, and the brilliant thing is that any 'normal' Person who watched will continue to think twitchers are stupid, also don't know what the birds they go to see look like, and have to ask the almighty if it's OK to tick a bird... such a laugh

In case you missed it here's Baggers and co.

Look at those legs...

2010-10-25T20:17:00.003+01:00

5:30 and my alarm is ringing loudly and for a while being ignored.

6:30 and my alarm is ringing loudly again, this time I rise, eat some breakfast and trundle up to the station, I forgot my gloves which wasn't good, so by the time I reached platform 1 my hands were blue! after 2 changes and just over 90 minutes I landed in oxford, Just a small problem in that I got lost (Oxford is big compared to Andover!) once I found port meadow the bird was quickly located and wonderful views were had all morning, including a close encounter and very close flypast!.

Cornwall 10 and a change

2010-10-16T19:27:00.002+01:00

http://neverbirding.webs.com/octoberrarehunting2010.htm

Trip reports will be posted on here from now on, It makes things much easier for me.

My exploits across Hampshire and beyond will still be documented one here!

Joe

ARCTIC SKUA

2010-09-24T18:35:00.001+01:00

This Beauty flew over my little patch! Bangin'

Farrrrrrlington and Twatford lakes

2010-09-19T16:07:00.004+01:00

Sunday morning, the morning after the night before (A little reunion of Ashley howe, Stephen Menzie and myself) it started early, but by 7:30 we were at Farlington Marshes, our target bird was Lapland Bunting. By 7:50 we joined the small group of people on site and it didn't take long for 1 of the 3 birds present to be located. After a few dips this one was in the bag!
A Large flock of Bearded Tit were attempting to do something dramatic but were undecided and kept backing out of crossing the water.

Blashford lakes were shit, no sign of Great White Egret, Egyptian goose or anything else of that matter.

It's breezy, It's cloudy... Hand me my bins!

2010-09-14T20:36:00.002+01:00

Sunday, The scarce Blue sky of the UK invited me home from France with a certain similarity, This was prolonged until the moment the front door was open, a view of summer but a feeling of autumn. Wandering, thrashing aimlessly my thoughts drift "The mill always has produced somewhat poor results for me in such conditions yet in other places it... Oh, Break out the notebook there appear to be Whinchat on my patch" suddenly all things change, how can such a relatively common migrant bring out so much adrenalin? I was excited, fumbling with my tripod scoping them briefly, giving way to cyclists, scoping them briefly and they were gone. My attempts to photograph these such beautiful patch "newbs" were in vain.

Osprey, overhead out of nowhere, made me wonder if I had actually risen from my slumber, days like today don't happen here, circling, drifting with such a powerful fast flight, I return to My book, scrall her in, time and date allowing myself one last look before my view was obscured. Like before I continued to ponder "What was next, Wryneck? Red-Backed Shrike or nothing?" the latter seemed a reasonable answer. A Spotted Flycatcher in the afternoon, in the same dead bush whereupon the Whinchat were so gracefully perched in the morning, this now beginning to become my favorite bush, so a quick photo, a smile to a jogger and my day was done.

FRANCE 2010- Photos to follow.

2010-09-12T08:49:00.002+01:00

FRANCE 2010

This wasn’t really supposed to be a Birding holiday as such, but with being with the grandparents it was easy for me to slip off for most of the day in one of France’s best birding locations! So here goes…

Day One and the crossing, fairly lifeless until we were about an hour from France, I noticed a couple of bonxies from the front window so headed out to the rear of the boat for a proper seawatch. Total as follows: Bonxie 9, Gannet 69, Fulmar 4, Balearic Shearwater 2, Arctic Skua 2, a somewhat disappointing total, mind you feeling sick for most of the British waters didn’t help! Our first stop was Beaumont-sur-sarthe, Yellow wagtail flew over most of the evening and 13 had headed south by nightfall, there was also Spotted Flycatcher and Cetti’s Warbler nearby.

Day two, heading south again! We arrived in a place called Pons, north of Bordeaux. It was sooooo hot, 34 degrees really hurts when you’ve been in an air-conditioned car! Here seemed better and within 10 minutes of setting up the caravan and tent I’d seen a Pied Flycatcher, 5 Spotted Flies, 6 Yellow Wagtail, Hoopoe and a couple of Serin flew over.

Day Three, We decided to stay for two nights in Pons so we could rest, in the morning There were 2 Hoopoe and a Wryneck as I got out of the tent! There had seemingly been a small fall of migrants as there were 3 Pied Fly, 11 Spotted, 3 Hoopoe, 2 Redstart, more Yellow Wags over and a Few whites too. In the afternoon I went for a quick walk, I picked up Cirl bunting and a smashing Honey Buzzard, this showed reasonably well for me to get some pictures. In the evening I Had superb views of hoopoe and a couple more Serin.

Day four, Quiet really whilst travelling south, not a great deal to be seen on the trip except for a Short-Toed Eagle showing close to the A64 and a couple of Wheatear at a service station.

Day five, Navarranx. Not up early as it was raining! Out by 10, Soon finding out that Pied Flycatcher is a very common passerine here with 6 birds seen in a short space of time, a little egret was on the river as were 2 Kingfisher and about 10 Grey wagtails. A couple of Honey Buzzards moved south in the morning as did 2 hobby, then 3 really big bastard raptors drifted distantly and I put them down as Vulture SP. About 10 minutes later a Booted Eagle moved south too, This place is amazing! I went out for a walk in the afternoon, it was 36 degrees and very sunny so I wasn’t expecting lots, 9 Spotted Fly, 3 Pied, 1 Bonelli’s warbler, and a few Nuthatches, Then, 4 Griffon Vulture! First Lifer of the trip! And another Booted Eagle, 2 Honey Buzzard and a Common were seen on the way back, much more than I had expected! In the evening, whilst getting slightly pissed on house wine, 6 more Griffon Vulture, 3 Honey Buzzard and the un-doubted highlight of 4 Black Stork migrating southward made my day and made another Tick in the book.

Day six, Up earlyish for a walk around some local farmland 6 Firecrest were in one garden! Quite a few Tree Sparrows made the most of some spilled grain, as did a couple of Cirl Bunting, Back at the campsite I found a Wood Warbler in the trees outside. For lunch we decided to go for a picnic at some local woods, not before 4 Honey Buzzards drifted southward. Once at our chosen location 5 Griffons headed over, this area looked prime for shrikes so I did a bit of bush bashing, I caught a brief glimpse of a Sylvia, Sardinian Warbler was a good candidate but just wouldn’t show. All the time I walked about there was an odd sound, something I didn’t recognize, shrike? No… a bloody Pekin Robin, not just one though, I think they’re breeding! More hammering of this rather arid farmland just left me feeling rather despondent, bitten and burned! Sunning myself with a beer in the afternoon and 2 large birds begun to circle before heading south, Glossy Ibis! Nice views of these just before they moved on also another Honey Buzzard and a Black Kite.

Day seven. Didn’t go for a walk in the morning as we were heading for the mountains, We left at 10 and began our long drive to the Col Du Somport and Spanish border. On route a very green lake excited me so we stopped for me to photograph it. Here I found a family of Red Backed Shrike, not posing for photos I continued a big ol’ walk back to the car, it was from here I nailed another Lifer picking up an Egyptian Vulture thermaling, also in the area was Crested Tit, Crag Martin, Dipper, Spotted Flycatcher, Bullfinch, Griffon Vulture and Red Kite. Col Du Somport, my first visit to Spain, Rock Bunting Singing as I got out of the car but unfortunately all I could do was flush it! This was a stunning place, 1650M above sea level, only 12 degrees and full of birds. I managed to pick up Water Pipit quite quickly, a couple more Egyptian vulture, Alpine Accentor and possibly a Snow Finch (my dip record for these is huuuge!) As we were leaving I had lovely views of Short Toed Eagle. Stopping for lunch more Crested Tit were located as were the first couple of Short-Toed Treecreeper of the trip. A good idea from my grandfather was to take a scenic route home, not only was it beautiful but I found a Black winged Kite! And this was it for the day really, a couple more Honey Buzzard when we arrived back, surprisingly the most common raptor for today was Griffon Vulture with at least 30+ Individuals seen.

Day Eight, Somewhat un-inspiring. Spent the day laying beside the pool, over which 17 Griffon Vulture drifted over quite low, 4 Yellow Legged Gull were sat on a building near the town, and a very smart pale phase Booted Eagle flew over in the evening, as did another Honey Buzzard.

Day nine, I had another lazy one and got no real birding done. In the evening though whilst raptor watching 4 Honey Buzzard, a Black Stork and 3 Marsh Harrier flew over (the latter seemingly just kicking into migration)

Day 10, I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be amongst a proper fall in Europe, I woke to see that it had clouded over night, literally hundreds of hirundines buzzed over head and the air was muggy. Eating breakfast rather quickly I headed out for a session and here are the totals: 3 Melodious Warbler, 3 Bonnelli’s Warbler, 1 Red Backed Shrike, 3 Ortolan Bunting over, a brief Nightingale, a Tawny pipit flew over calling at least twice, a Cuckoo, 10 Willow Warbler, 3 Marsh Harrier and a handful of Pekin Robin again, when I say handful I mean 15-20! Barely any of this was in the area until this morning and all was seen in about 3 hours. The afternoon carried Black Stork, 2 Goshawk, 15 Lapwing, another Marsh Harrier, 2 Hobby, A Griffon Vulture and a Honey Buzzard.

Day 11 a relatively quiet day, we went to the mountains again to visit a town and drive a mountain pass. On route I stopped to do a bit of birding, Yellow Wagtail passed over quite regularly as did Griffon Vulture. On route I noticed a large raptor circling with a Red Kite, Pulling over as soon as we could I picked it up and watched a rather nice Short-Toed Eagle. About 5 Minutes from St Jean-Pied-le-Port There seemed to be a tornado, not a normal tornado though it was one made of Griffon Vulture, at least 150 birds were circling and ascending before drifting away, quite a sight I can tell you! The drive back was unbelievable, so high up! In one valley where we stopped so I could have a walk there was a Red-Backed Shrike, 3 Northern Wheatear, lots of Stonechat, Winchat, Yellow Wagtails including a Spanish “Type” good numbers of Yellowhammer, Black Redstart and Numerous Red Kite.

Day 12 and I woke to a little bit of mist, Downing a cup of tea I shot out the door to bash around for migrants. It was a good start but when a whitethroat popped up out of nowhere, then did another one. I walked no further than a few steps and I caught sight of a bird flying across the top of a cornfield, landing on top of it I instantly recognised a Fem/Juv Bluethroat! I managed to fire off a couple of shots before it disappeared never to be seen again. Moving further down a few Yellow Wagtail called out, 4 Black Stork flew over, 8 Honey Buzzard began to circle increasing their height before moving on, I caught a brief glimpse of a shrike but couldn’t find it to ID it. Wandering back for some food Birds continued to pop up including a Winchat in nearly the exact place that the Bluethroat appeared. Very lazily I sat by the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

Day 13, I went fishing but got a nice view of two Common Sandpiper, A Dipper, Kingfisher and a Great White Egret. In the evening a thunderstorm began to move in pushing Hirundines northwards which included a few Swift and an Alpine Swift.

Day 14, It rained in the morning a proper good storm too! By the afternoon it began to clear up so we headed out for a nice drive finding a few Griffon Vulture and a nice party of Crag Martin on the way.

Day 15 I got up nice and early but unfortunately it was still raining, by 11 it appeared the weather was beginning to clear so I headed out for a walk. Same route as normal, I began to really like this one as it offered quite a mix of habbo. The usual bits were on show, Black Redstart, Cirl Bunting, Serin and Tree Sparrow afforded a couple of nice views. Further down the track I picked up a Hippo in one of the low shrubs, a very pale sandy bird with a long bill and only giving me brief glimpses before disappearing altogether, I can only really think Western Olivaceous Warbler but out of range I was slightly confused by its presence. Carrying on further down the track a Winchat was perched on a post and a Melodious Warbler hopped along the floor, why I do not know! More Winchat were around the field with a maximum of 10, a Northern Wheatear and 3 Yellow Wagtail were in with the cattle. Further Melodious Warblers Popped up with 4 more being seen, a brief Red-Backed Shrike showing only 5 foot away was too quick for me and I failed to obtain a decent image also Quite a Few Honey Buzzard circled overhead as did a spanking booted eagle late afternoon.

Day 16, My last birding day. After realising the potential of Col Du Somport I wanted to go back here, also It’s one of the most stunning places I have been to. We arrived up there at 12:30 after a close encounter with a wild boar I tucked into some pate and bread. Starting a walk at 1pm, from here I had 2 hours to let this place really deliver, Red Billed Chough were in good numbers, there were also a few Alpine thrown into the mix too. A couple of Water Pipit called overhead and 9 Serin were in and around the ski resort in spain. I descided to climb up a bit to try and pick up Snow finch and Rock sparrow, But it was so high up there I was out of breath after about 10 minutes! Descending a little back to the French border I heard a finch I recognised, not from the field though, this was one I’d listened to before I came out, Citril Finch! I saw what I though was a Citril finch in 08 but this one was showing well on the top of pine! And gave me conformation that I’d seen one. Moving around I fancied my chances of Rock Bunting but to no avail, feeling a little down about my trip to Somport so far I continued a little further along, a Raptor drifted over “ Oh a Griff, wait, That’s a funny tail, that’s huge, Shiiiiiiiit Lammergier! I fired off a few photos as it passed over and watched it disappear behind a mountain. Very pleased with my find I descided to drop back down the mountain and wait to be picked up, not before finding a ridiculously showy Rock Bunting!!!

I’ll cut it here, I was in france for quite some time. Day 17 didn’t happen as we went for a meal and I needed to pack my shit. What a place, not only did it hold a few lifers but it allowed time to really have a good look at some birds I’ve had brief moments with previously. If you’d like any details of sites that you would like to visit don’t hesitate contacting me, Jstockwell5 ‘at’ Gmail.com.

Pre Trip Posting

2010-08-17T21:47:00.002+01:00

7 Days time I'm hoping to be basking in glorious sunshine in mid france, god knows where though I didn't bother to ask. This will be one of 2 stops on my journey to the Pyrenees, staying roughly an hour from Pau at a place beginning with 'N' which I can neither spell or pronounce. Here i hope to see some birds, Preferably migrating raptors overhead while I'm a lazy fuck supping beer next to the pool.

Before I depart Rooksbury needs to throw me a little cracker or two. Redshank last week was very nice, as were two flyover Yellow Wagtail on Monday. 6am starts for an hours birding before i get ready for work and then 2 hours when i get home, Winchat, Wheatear or Tree Pipit please! The third being the most likely to be honest.

If I don't Blog Before I get back, Go out and hammer you local patch, there's a little something for everyone!

Today

2010-08-09T20:11:00.002+01:00

My apolagies to anyone looking for a read, just some pretty pictures. Normal service will resume at some point.

year ticking away

2010-08-03T07:27:00.001+01:00

To keep those days ticking along

2010-07-23T09:06:00.001+01:00

http://henriraben.page.tl/, Stunning yet very, very upsetting, poor blokes propper fucked up!

I'm not yearlisting...

2010-07-21T22:55:00.002+01:00

How many times a year is this phrase spoken? I'm sure I hear or see it everyday for the first three months of the year. "I'm not doing a list this year, just want to see some new birds" A few months down the line, a quick total up reveals more than this time the previous year, "Fuuuuuuck! OK i'm yearlisting" I'ts quite predictable, and from nearly always the same people.

I have been keeping a list this year, I'm quite poor at going for yearticks, actualy I'm pretty poor at going for lifers so its hardly suprising! My bed is too warm to leave early for nightingale, keyhaven is too far for a spoonbill (unless you going there anyway ;) and all the other dross that i must get to be in with a fighting chance of a decent total just adds up the miles for absolutely nothing... pointless, see what kind of a list you can get without even thinking about it next year, get to the end of december crying into your roast turkey at the thought of missing ticks...

Weekend in Hampshire

2010-07-19T20:39:00.003+01:00

It was a tiresome week, especially after having having insect bites the size of melons, sickness because of my tablets and a very busy work schedule, but i was very excited as the end of Saturday came around and some birding with menzie was about to begin. saturday evening was spent driving around for local species, no sign of corn bunting at danebury, this was somewhat dissapointing as there had been two birds on my previous visit. Stockbridge common had at least 5 Turtle dove, one of which was showing quite well.

Sunday morning, keyhaven and Pennington with the hope of a nice spoonbill yeartick, unfortunately the birds were not seen all day... 20+ Med Gull were nice, and a handful of Black Tailed Godwit, Common Sand, Little Ringed Plover, Greenshank and Whimbrel were all present.

Lower test marshes held 14 Yellow Legged Gulls, all adult bar a 3cy and a 1cy

White Tailed Plover

2010-07-08T11:12:00.001+01:00

Another day at work, another MEGA. Interestingly I was about to get a second chance at White tailed Plover, I didn't think I'd get another go at one of these for a looooong time. 6:45 in the evening and the Prawn Cocktail Birder (Ashley Howe) pulls up outside my house and we set off for Rainham RSPB in Essex. Two or so hours later and we arrive at Rainham and begin a long walk to the pools. Around 50 birders were watching the bird on arrival and we enjoyed excellent scope views all evening accompanied by Jonathon Lethbridge's commentary of the birds every movement...

I've been birding

2010-07-06T21:15:00.003+01:00

Yes, you read the title right, I have actually ventured away from the patch and seen some birds! Nightjar was a major tart tick, quite possibly the easiest bird I needed, I don't feel it necessary t mention the other one...

The rest of the weekend will follow at some point, Bit busy at the moment but spent some time in the NF and on the coast.

Singing blunder

2010-06-11T22:06:00.000+01:00

Thought to paper before it all goes! The mornings walk to work yielded no more than Peregrine and a few Sedge Warblers at Rooksbury. Unsurprisingly Goldcrest were in song along the riverside factories, despite this a quiet walk to work. Cutting across ASDA car park I was struck by the sound of an acro, Not something I have ever heard here before, and really not a location you would expect to! As I walked closer to the bird the song was strange, Not all Reed, Not all Sedge, wait, Marsh Warbler? It sounded good. After a few minutes with the bird, I could note down; broken song interspersed with wren and sedge, no full song, Very secretive and by this point the bird never revealed itself and I couldn’t ascertain what this was, although marsh being from what I had heard was very possible. Contacting a couple of Hampshire birders I headed to work. I popped back once I had set all the lab gear up, this time the bird seemed quiet, only really giving a churk call and not really showing at all, fleeting glimpses were all I could manage.

Once I was back at work I had a voice mail from one of the birders, it was doing full-blown Reed Warbler! A really disappointing message and to be honest quite a shock, I had all expectations of this bird bursting into a crescendo of Palustris. Id be interested to know about Spring migrant Reed Warbler, Although late I know, what else could this bird have been? I know that I have witnessed other species of acrocephalus performing a great deal of mimicry, and I imagine that Reed is no different, but to what extent, and how broken is this upon arrival? I would quite like to hear recordings of other spring Reed Warblers performing sub-song and mimicry.

half way there

2010-06-10T17:34:00.003+01:00

122 up for the local year list, Maybe 140 in the Andover area is possible, only 18 more birds to go and 6 months to get them in. 150-160? who knows. Things may slow as I could do with twitching a couple of nice rares now though.

Stop Press: Booted Eagle Hampshire

2010-06-06T09:28:00.002+01:00

I Didn't need this to happen really, Saturday morning, MEGA, Hants Booted Eagle, down on the coast. On the train thats 2-1/2 hours, far too warm for that.

6pm, MEGA Booted Eagle Drifted WSW 4mls south of Andover, FUUUUUUCK! spanking in down the A303 I was in the area, drove around for hours Found some Quail and then a big Raptor.

Common Buzzard, lovely.

Loaaaads of birds

2010-05-19T20:46:00.007+01:00

Sunday is one of my days off in what seems like a never ending week, no birds were around so I decided to take my sister shopping and headed over to Basingstoke. £75 lighter we went to catch the train, a quick check on the pager to reveal Collared Pratincole, not really close enough for me to worry about.
“beep, beep, beep, beep” The out loud response on a crowded train of “oh your fucking joking” is enough to turn a carriage blue, this being the moment Oriental Pratincole mega’d. There was nothing I could do, no car, no lift and time was getting on.
Sunday again, a week after the first message on that rather tedious afternoon, Yes, a week had past before I could go! But up popped my saviour, Ash Howe still hadn’t seen Bluethroat, so he said we’d go up for that and the pratincole… Sweeeeet! All arranged on the Sunday evening, an evening session of fishing was cut short as he revealed that we would be leaving at 2:30! I can assure you now, falling asleep at midnight and waking up at 2 is not good for your body at all.

Part two, Lakenheath fen, Suffolk. It was early, and bitterly cold, the sound of acrocephalus song filled the air, a Bittern was booming from the reed bed in front of us and Common Whitethroats resonated from every bush. We made our way around the raised bank, a Common Tern passed us a few times as did a Common Sandpiper, then, cutting through the air the beautiful song of Golden oriole. My first in the UK, we now had the tough challenge of actually locating a bird. It didn’t take me long to clap eyes on a stonking male sat right out in the open and we both enjoyed excellent scope views until it fucked off not to be seen again that morning. Walking the reserve in the hope of getting Common Crane we also had, Kingfisher, 2 more singing Golden Oriole, a few Marsh Harrier and more booming Bittern. It was in this area that we also had Gropper, Garden Warbler, Bearded Tit and a realisation that there was quite a day total to be had.

Golden Oriole

Turtle Doves; I love them, ok they are a bit shit but in Hampshire you actually have to go to known sites to see the bloody things! Cambridgeshire appears to be slightly different, and they show well, right next to the road in fact. Spinning the car round I grab my camera out the boot, get back in the car, and expect to drive off, ash reminds me that I actually need to close the boot before we set off, I think tiredness was setting in.

Turtle Dove

Welney, Norfolk a rather promising little reserve, with flooded meadows and vast expanses of open fields, although quite a Hefty entry fee! I felt like a proper dude, scoping for year ticks instead of going for the target bird, Whooper swan, Once out of the way we headed up to the reedy area where the Bluethroat had been seen in the morning, We picked up the Great White Egret flying through and kept searching for the Bluethroat, but after half an hour there was no sign. Being me I got bored of waiting with people who kept shitting out their breakfast the moment a sedge warbler moved through, so mentioned to ash that looking form somewhere else may well be a better option. I don’t even remember sitting down before Ash picked up the bird singing out in the open, and it dropped. Moving on see if I could photograph it I soon realised it was right in front, on the floor only 20 yards away!

Bluethroat

Bluethroat

Garganey

After picking up food, a sandwich, a roll, 3 bags of crisps and a can of relentless I was ready for some hardcore Pratincole action! Arriving at Frampton Marsh RSPB I was struck by how very un-RSPB it actually looked, a very birdy looking reserve. The weather wasn’t great; although the sun was shining black clouds surrounded us. Wandering up to the 360 hide a corn bunting sang and showed very well, Ash got some excellent pictures. Once in the hide we searched about and 5 minutes later the bird was up, although at the moment really only a Pratincole Sp. We headed over to the south hide to obtain better views, A few Yellow wags passed over as did a very hefty shower, a Soaking later we were in the hide. The most unbelievable show was put on but the bird, continually flying in front of the hide, as were 7 little gulls that also performed very well. After about an hour and a half in the hide it was time to puck up some more birds, targeting Temmink’s Stint and Wood Sandpiper. 360 hide again and the Temmink’s showed well albeit at a distance and from the visitor Center as did the Wood Sandpiper and a Garganey. The day came to an end after photographing tree sparrow. Once again an excellent days twitching with Ash Howe.

Corn Bunting, Ashley howe

Oriental Pratincole

Little Gull (with the face of a Pterodroma Petrel)

Wood Sandpiper

Yellow Wagtail

A twitch in kent

2010-05-03T19:41:00.003+01:00

Right, Time is in my hands, I’m fresh in from casting my first ever vote so time to put some words down, Building up to bank holiday weekends can always be quite a struggle, for some reason the people of Andover feel it necessary to spend inordinate amounts of money on camera gear they can’t use, nevertheless Team Andover 439 (sponsored by monster) cracked on with things and finished pretty smug on Saturday evening. Throughout Sunday a spot of birding was being planned, trying to figure out the best place to head. Cornwall was decided at first, unfortunately the black-headed wagtail did one, so Kent was arranged. Crystal Palace managed to survive the drop, and rescued themselves from next season as the prospect of League one football was somewhat rather shit, so a few beers and a roast dinner later, I felt pretty good and headed off to bed. At the dangerous time of 3:30 my alarm was ringing in my ear and I hopped out of bed, once dressed, fed and watered I waited outside for Ash and Dan. I will skip the dive as it was uneventful, or I was asleep, one of the two.

First stop Walderslade, Chatham for Iberian Chiffchaff, a bird that had been present for a few days and one that had some pretty decent credentials, Fortunately the bird was seen straight away and we never really lost sight of it the whole time we were on site, It sang a mixture of song, although primarily something very different to anything I have heard before.

Next we dropped in for hoopoe, which had not been seen the previous day. For the first few minutes there was no sign until the heavens opened and the bird flew behind us, only seen by me at this point. We searched around for a while but couldn’t relocate the bird. This was until Dan looked back into the sheep field, there it was, the single most bizarre looking UK tick for me so far. Then it fucked off, at this point we had to go look for it, we had plenty of time left in the day as it was still only 11am! We managed to relocate the bird a long way down the field and as it did a fly by I managed to grab a quick record shot.

Purple heron, Apart from the fact all of us went to sleep for an hour and woke up to purple herons in flight this was an uneventful stop, although this didn’t just happen once but twice, we woke for a second time to purple herons in flight and I managed a quick record shot.

We then headed over to Dunge for a seawatch where I picked out a dark phase Arctic Skua passing through, Just after this Josh Jenkins Shaw joined us. We also had 2-3 Arctic Tern, Black Tern, another 1 possibly 2 Arctic Skua, 3 Little Tern. Once again, a 3 Tick day, If I keep this up I will get that 300th bird by the end of 2010

Gropper at rooksbury this morning

2010-04-23T11:59:00.003+01:00

I still can't find a way of uploading a decent recording, so for now you'll have to look at the sonogram. It only really audible when the road was quiet, and when sedge warblers were not singing. so just 3 seconds of decent sound.

Normandy, Keyhaven and pennington

2010-04-12T18:35:00.002+01:00

4:30 in the morning and I'm up eating toast with a nice warm cup of coffee. A few years ago I used to be really good at early mornings, especially on Mondays with the promise of a good days birding ahead. Now after discovering fine(ish) wines that complement roast pork superbly and sunday football matches accompanied with a few pints of London Pride, times are hard ESPECIALLY on Mondays. Nursing a somewhat mushy head, I joined the relatively small number of commuters at Andover train station. I take my seat and realize what I love about the early train; no dick heads with a large broadsheet and blackberry's that don't shut up, just a tiny proportion of London's workers, minding their own business and catching up on the last few minutes of sleep before their day begins.
Drifting in and out of sleep with the sound of Rammstein's Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, quite possibly the greatest album produced by this aging "dance metal" band, I witness a beautiful sunrise over the new forest and before I knew it my short walk to Normandy marsh began. I arrived on site around 8am and instantly picked up two year ticks; Spotted Redshank, and Greenshank, both of which were feeding on the same pool. It was here that I picked up a gull, Long legs, big bill and appeared quite long winged... It stood out, so I took a few pictures and left it, I had enough of a headache already. I continued a little further along, a few Meds were out on the saltmarsh as were 6 eider, 2 more ticks. As I left the Normandy area a Whitethroat burst into song in some low scrub and another Med flew over. The next mile was fairly quiet until I found a pair of Dartford Warbler, this to be honest was the most exciting part of the day, it was excellent to see one this year after the winter but a breeding pair was amazing. A Raven flew over whist I was on the sea wall as did a White Wagtail, landing on a grassy area at the back of oxey marsh.
40+ Knot were roosting on the saltmarsh at the back of fishtail lagoon, also a Whimbrel was there feeding with a Curlew. 2 Yellow wagtail were on fishtail but not a lot else was in this area.

I descided to head back up to oxey lake to photograph some spotshanks and on my way found this;
Second pair of the day, this one showed superbly I took a few shots and left them to their business.

Back on normandy there were further spotshanks, one in full summer plumage and a Little Ringed plover shot past at its usual high speed. Another brilliant day had and the Hampshire year list up to 144.

pied again

2010-04-05T14:23:00.001+01:00

Rooksbury Pied Flycatcher

2010-04-02T20:24:00.003+01:00

This cracking 1s male was found this evening at the far end of Barlows lake and stayed until 19:45 at least, I arrived with perfect timing on my way home from work just minutes after it was discovered. If this is what we get in early April I can't wait for the next couple of weeks!

Sometimes luck is on your side...

2010-03-29T09:35:00.004+01:00

At 8:30 Mum bursts into my room with Ash Howe on the phone, slightly groggy we spoke and arranged to go see the Two-Barred Crossbill in Bedfordshire at about 12, so it left me time to whip around the patch. 6 Willow Warbler were in song which was nice, not a lot else was seen though. 11:45; Ash and Emma pick me up and we head north to the lodge, Traffic was fairly light although rather tedious through the average speed checks. On arrival we spoke to an RSPB chap and he supposedly directed us in the right direction, This turned out to be a load of arse bilge and the Crossbills were over the other side, a quick walk had us on the birds and a brief view was obtained before they fucked off somewhere else. I managed to pick up some calling birds further along the track, and they began to fly again but landing closer this time. A few minutes scanning and me moving so i could actually see the birds i managed to locate the birds and my first lifer of the day!.

Once seen it was time for a very nervous drive to the Suffolk coast in search of Alpine and Pallid Swift, This took for ever! once about 25 minutes away my phone went off alerting me of a mega. LESSER KESTREL, MINSMERE, SHOWING WELL. No other time could we have been in a better position to get this bird but 10 minutes later it flew. We arrived at Kessingland around 5 and I instantly picked up a swift we bundled out and realized we were watching the pallid! but there was no sign of the Alpine...

Pallid Swift

I mentioned to ash that it would be at minsmere so off we went. As we headed onto the road about 15 cars were hastily turning round, Not knowing what we were going for we booted it untill we found utter carnage along the road, with cars parked everywhere. A very out of breath photographer shouted kestrel, We bundled out of the car, Grabbed everything and ran! 1/2 a mile later we found the crowd, 2 mintues later i was watching it, holy shit It was a smart bird!, but i couldn't find ash to get him on it. once seen and badly photographed I took a photo of the crowd, immediately pissing LGRE off! It then re-appeared and it seemed as though everyone got on the bird, Emma had to be back at 6 so we left ( bear in mind that it was 6:30 and we were at least 3 hours from home!) All in all quite possibly the best birding day i will have for a long, long time!

Sweet ass Record shot...

Willow warbler

2010-03-28T11:22:00.002+01:00

I will upload an mp3 when I've got some time but I'm off to Bedfordshire in a minute, Recorded this at rooksbury this morning

I Like spring

2010-03-21T21:11:00.001Z

And i believe that spring likes me too...
... Patch tick

DIP...

2010-03-09T21:23:00.002Z

Saturday night, the beer is flowing, the curry is good and my phone was pissing me off so I muted it for the night.

Sunday morning, a fuzzy head, a bad gut and a sense that something was about to wreck my day off. I switched on my phone, It buzzed not once, not twice, But THREE times! MEGA: BUFFLEHEAD, Drake on the fleet, Dorset... and so on. Two phone calls made but no lift (I really need a bigger contact list, and a driving license) so the train beckoned, but no transport to the site, I posted on Facebook my disgruntlement and that i wanted a lift to Weymouth and left it at that. I was back home by 2pm, my uncle was about to save the day, If I paid his petrol he would drive me there, SORTED!

Once we arrived at the supposed site I realised it would take an age to reach the point, relocating myself to langton herring seemed to be the best spot, later pager message said rodden hive, Perfect! once I got there no-one could see the bird a neither could I... and after an hour or so of steady scoping I called it a day and Yet again, another DIP!

Redwings and a jewell

2010-03-04T18:40:00.002Z

6am and the alarm buzzes, do i stir? No of course not, I'm a teenager! rescheduled the fishing for next week and caught a couple more hours kip instead. My plan for the afternoon was to track down local Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and hopefully get some recordings, On arrival at my site i was confronted by the sound of guns so things were looking bleak from the onset. From 11am until 2pm i wandered aimlessly as nothing more than a marsh tit revealed itself, changed my plan yet again and headed down to Rooksbury. I had 3 hours to play with so i gave it a real thorough going over, managing 3 Water Rail, 2 chiffchaff (one almost in song) Red Kite over, and really not a lot else. I descided the best thing to do was cover the whole river stretch, BINGO! a cracking little Firecrest was flitting around in the bushes at the back of Stannah Stairlifts. There was also 15 Redwing on the watermills playing field, but more about those in a little while when I've finished my sketches.

A break

2010-02-18T21:16:00.002Z

Wow! nine days since I updated this, I was hoping for 2010 I would get it near daily, fat chance when I'm leaving for work at 7:15...

So, what have I been up to? Not a huge amount... The last couple of weeks;

Short eared Owls, 2 birds were found not too far from home, A Bittern was seen in flight over the watery lane reed bed, A few gulls have been around with up to 20 herring gull in one day, 6 common gull another Great Black Back and some Lessers too, A Cetti's Warbler burst into song while looking for the Bittern and lots of water rail have been around too.

Monday madness

2010-02-09T18:33:00.004Z

I really don't have any time, energy, actually anything at all after wasting 3 hours taking a picture of a crying baby! only for its mother to say that we shouldn't be taking baby photos at Jessops if we cant do it right! Never the less my blog is an important source of Hampshire birding... erm.

So, 7:15 and Ash Howe is parked outside my humble abode, Out I staggered, chucked my kit in his boot and we set off for Willow Tit. Not long after we were on site Red Kite was ticked and really it didn't much longer for Ash to pick up willow tit. Whilst on site two finches made their presence know, one of which calling/singing in flight while squabbling with the other, Great minds think a like and the response was Twite, needless to say an unusual record form is being submitted. By 8:20 we were on the road again making our way to Blashford for the much anticipated Smew tick, quickly viewing the 13 bewick swans that are occupying ibsley water meadows we shot off to rockford no sooner that we could see the lake i got onto the smew, showing close to the near shore and allowing for some excelent scope views. No sign of any red-crested pochard on ivy So ibsley water was next, At least 8 goosander, a half arsed attempt at displaying from a drake goldeneye. Some greylags were picked up by ash as they flew in which contained 12 whitefronted goose, a very unexpected yeartick for me.
Once we left ibsley it was the Great Grey Shrikes turn to show, it didn't. On to keyhaven for bean goose, although trying very hard to find them from the shag mound (think what you like) so in an attempt to re-find them we hit the jackpot, not only relolcated the 9 Tundra Bean Geese but they were mixed in with the 3 Eurasian White Fronted geese present on sunday, a few phone calls later, news was out and hampshires finest began to arrive on site. Keyhaven itself had an ejyptian goose but not a huge amount else appart from two scaup.

5 of the 9 Tundra Bean Geese

1W Scaup

Next target was Bittern at testwood lakes, a red head Goosander was showing well but not any Bittern (ash got them at 5:30 this morning) Time was against us now, a quick search for Black Redstart at lakeside, eastleigh was to no avail so we shot up to andover and more importantly bransbury common for owls, it was cold, miserable and getting quite dark. No sign of a Barn owl, which was slightly dissapointing, things were looking bleak and we were ready to leave and then i found a short eared owl right over our heads, it landed in a field behind us! 2 more were noted while were were there and several woodcock flew past.

All in all a cracking days birding had, boosted me up to 117 for the year and a couple of lifers to boot!

Hindsight

2010-02-04T19:10:00.004Z

This morning my alarm screamed into action at 6am, I looked outside, it was raining heavily, blowing a hoolie and I had got dressed back to front. So a decision was made to stay in bed instead of ramping the year list with a visit to twatford lakes, and that I would go and look for lapwing, golden plover and barn owl locally. Starting out at a much more reasonable 10am I hit rooksbury with a big everything fuck off stick, it was dead! Desciding that this was going to be a dead loss i headded out to goodworth clatford, on the walk there i nailed red-legged partridge and little owl so I began to think that today would pan out well, especially when I came across a flock of buntings at the base of bury ring. Sifting through them I picked out 3 Corn bunting and a Reed, the rest of the flock was made up by Yellowhammer and a house sparrow.
Quickly cutting accross some shit ridden footpaths i was at my favoured spot for GP's, unfortunately this was empty and with a new type of crop in, the reported hen harrier didn't show either so i went back down to rooksbury. I began to believe i had a problem there today, every time i flock of gulls came in they departed just as quickly... Not impressed
When i got home there was a report on going birding that the smew showed very at blashford well this morning and all the target species were available...

Things from today

2010-02-01T15:17:00.001Z