2, 4, 6, 8 Motorway!

After a whistle stop tour to birmingham on saturday night I did a spot of Motorway birding on Sunday morning whilst driving home. Im sure its not quite legal and but not perhaps scorned upon in the same manner as drink driving, driving whilst on the Phone etc but it had to be done! So in total via the M42, M40 & A34 I counted 2 Red Kites, 4 Buzzards, 4 Kestrels and about 10,000 Gulls stretching for miles near the Northampton junction on the M40, not sure if they were swirling around a land fill site, Or just some earthworks, but I have to admit it was quite the spectacle. And if your wondering no I didn't pull over on the hard shoulder for a better look or swerve across all three lanes to get a glimpse!

The bird table at home was heaving by mid morning, with Blue Tits, Great Tits, House Sparrows & Coal Tits all frequent visitors, the shadow of the house casting a horrible darkness over the scene though on a really bright day, One Blue Tit did however stop long enough in the sunshine.

Blue Tit

Kath (Sister & all round know it all) decided to come with me for the afternoon to see if we could find the Kingfishers, a lovely crisp Autumnal afternoon it turned out to be, definitely a slight nip in the air, Perfect for a walk! Anton Lakes the first port of call, with all the smaller birds seemingly vanished, a few Long Tailed Tits remained in the trees by the path, and 3 rather giant looking Greenfinches perched at the top of some young Ash Trees. The lakes harboring nothing new or out of the ordinary, Mute Swans, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Black Headed Gulls and a few Gadwall. Although a female Chaffinch did stop long enough for a quick picture! The males we saw had really dark and dull plumage, interesting and a little confusing when you question in your head what you know it is.

Female Chaffinch

On to Rooksbury Mill, expectant of Sunday afternoon dog walkers, so was pleasantly surprised at 3pm when the paths were empty. We headed straight up to the now aptly self proclaimed "Kingfisher Pool" the smaller of the too lakes rather scarcer than usual, with only 4 Mute Swans and half a dozen Mallard. A 20 minute wait at the Pool brought nothing but cold hands and the odd leaping fish. So we decided to walk around the larger lake, about a dozen Canada Geese joined by a pair of Tufted Ducks and a few Coots about all thats on offer, Which surprisingly is a lot more than normal for the size of the lake and the quiet spot its situated in. There's a small stream that runs parallel with the lake, and its only about 4 ft wide, hearing the Kingfisher before we saw him perched about 3 ft above the water about 100 yards away, not the best of views through the smaller branches over hanging the stream. Another call from the other direction, we turned pretty swiftish, as the second of the pair landed around 20 yards away, still calling to the other bird further upstream. Before flying away almost instantly. Another missed opportunity, but both birds seen at the same time so things can't all be bad.

Had some fun photographing some very inquisitive Long Tailed Tits on the far side of the lake, as the sun began to set. Also spotted a Treecreeper heading up a small Ash Tree, all in all a pretty good afternoon.

Long Tailed Tit

What A Way To Start The Day!

What a way to start the day! After a pretty crap nights sleep, the first rays of sunlight through the bedroom window as a I pulled back the curtains brought with them a nice surprise, Bertie the resident Barn Owl perched outside his nest box across the far side of the field. (I guess it could be Belinda, his mate - to far away to tell, so its even possible it was neither of these two) But im rambling now, I had to get the Binoculars out a bit quick as it was to make sure I wasn't imagining it in my bleary eyed state, confirmed Barn Owl hopping into Dads custom built nest box. Triiifffic! As Del Boy would say!

Nobody bloody mentioned that the Andover schools had the day off today! Mini motorbikes, Dog fights and endless Chav gangs - I ended my lunchtimes wander 20 minutes early because of the noise. None of the smaller birds that I'd seen earlier in the week were around and weather wise its been the best day of the week! I did somehow manage to squeeze in a full 10 minute viewing of the Kingfisher hidden amongst the trees, still not close enough for a decent pic, somewhat oblivious to the Chaos around him.

Grainy Kingfisher Proof

Cormorant

Mute Swan

Talking of which "Chaos" was the name of the Rotweiler chasing launched branches in to the lake by some pimple pocked faced Chav! This isn't good, Im beginning to think all my posts have to contain some kind of endless moaning, but I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from the location in which I go out. Other than the usual water going birds, the only noticeable sightings were a Buzzard, a Cormorant, a small flock of Fieldfare & a Grey Wagtail. Here's to hoping Sunday brings good weather so I can get out and about around the Estate.

You Live & Learn

A short post today because I didn't really see much down at Rooksbury Mill at lunchtime, the usual species from my recent visits, Mute Swans, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Gadwall, Moorhen & Coot. Goldfinches & Long Tailed Tits in the smaller trees near the car park. 

With the weather pretty decent today I thought I might try for the Kingfisher Pic again, the light on the Pool where I've seen them recently was pretty good, so I did my best to conceal myself behind the small Ash tree, no mean task when your 6 ft 1 and overweight. So there I stood twiddling my thumbs leaning against the fence, when an Aqua flash, headed straight towards me, landing about 10 ft away on the top of the sluices from the watercress beds. The Kingfisher in all its magnificent glory, now I like to think I have been brought up the right way around wildlife, so in my over excited state I find myself speedily bringing the camera up to eye level, casting a massive shadow all over the nearby flora. Schoolboy error at its most costly! Off flies Mr or Mrs Kingfisher, leaving a slightly irate Me stood there! 20mins later and still no return, please let this be a reminder to all! 

On the plus side this Cock Pheasant was rather inquisitive toward me and my camera.

Cock Pheasant

Cock Pheasant

Frost, Glorious Frost

This morning I woke up full of anticipation, no fog, a weak sun rising through the tree line of the old railway line in front of the house, result, camera cleaned and packed! I wander out to the car not really feeling the nip in the air, Window's are iced up, and not just the rubbish sludgy ice that melts as soon as you scrape it, the proper hard core stuff that you have to fear scratching the windscreen to clear. The car thermometer reads 0.5 degrees celsisus. Finally some cold weather is here.

It seems to have an instant impact, A glorious sight, the bird table had probably 4 or 5 times as many Blue Tits on it this morning, the Great Tits and Coal Tits all perched with the House Sparrows in the Apple Tree waiting there chance on the nuts and seed.

Temperature having risen to around 10 degrees by lunchtime, I thought I better take a stroll around Anton Lakes in my lunch hour, see if anything different has come in with this first little taster of cold weather. Magpies flying everywhere, not quite the birding entertainment I wanted to see but hey ho. The willow and alder trees near the edge of the water proved to be better foil. After much disruption by two very excited cocker spaniels, I managed to get clear enough views of the small flock of 12-15 birds flitting between the branches. Siskin a first for me in this area. None however stayed still long enough or came close enough for a picture.The patch of thistles, and grasses that had gone to seed, where I had seen the Goldfinches before seemed to be teeming with birds as a lot more Goldfinches and House Sparrows dropped in and out of the cover.

On to the lakes, the water pretty full now of with Mallard, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen & Black Headed Gull all mingling together, Still cant seem to get close enough to the Little Grebe to get a decent picture, they seem to be the flightiest of them all, diving straight under at any sign of movement.

Gadwall

Coot

Grey Heron

The Coots came pretty close so gave me a good chance to experiment a little with Aperture & Exposure etc, also had chance to grab a few frames of a Grey Heron coming into land further up the water.

The walk back to the car was pretty uneventful, more Goldfinches, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Grey Squirrel lodged in a rowan tree eating the berry's. I did however most disappointingly disturb a Male Bullfinch from some rough grass on the paths edge, only allowing a fleeting glance at his gorgeous red/pink wing feathers as he flew off. A definite draw for tomorrow though!

A Weekend's Wandering

Thick fog till lunchtime postponed my Sunday morning out, but it disappeared pretty rapidly to leave a rather warm golden autumnal afternoon! Accompanied by my glamourous binocular carrier Nat we headed off to the Hampshire Wildlife Trusts - Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve on the edge of Southampton. We were pretty lucky to find a parking space as it would seem half of Hampshire was out in force to walk their dogs around the Southern Water site. The smaller of the 2 lakes 'Little Testwood' in the "Normo's" (Normo's being Dog Walkers) area produced two pretty quick sightings. 2 Great Crested Grebes in Winter Plumage and a Kingfisher gliding from reed to reed along the waters edge. Still far to quick for me to get a picture!

HWT Testwood Lakes - Reserve Map

The larger 'Testwood Lake', I guess due to the invasion of Stick retrieving dogs was lacking any kind of activity mid afternoon, with just a few Black Headed Gulls floating in the middle. The one thing I do like about the Testwood site, is that the Pathways to the 2 Hides are all fenced off, and dog walkers are not allowed! These paths proved to be near on empty as we made our way to the Sand Martin hide, a few Blue Tits and Long Tailed Tits flitting about in the beach hedges besides the paths. With the hide empty and the sun starting to disappear behind the oncoming cloud over the scrapes, I was hoping that some kind of wading bird would be visible as an entry in the log book for 2pm said 3 Black-tailed Godwits - I couldn't see any and it was only 2.25pm, the only Birds visible were a few distant Common Teal.

The Heron Hide overlooking Meadow Lake prooved a little more fruitful, 80+ Lapwing emerging from the shallower water circling interwined with 40 or so Black Headed Gulls before landing again, in a cacophony of noise and calls.

Lapwing Flock

The muddy shoreline of the lake caught my eye producing more Common Teal, Mallard and 6 Shelduck mooching around on the edge of the water. The small island in the middle of the lake housed 12 Cormorant although others appeared along the far shoreline diving close to the fringing reed bed.

3 Little Egret present spaced evenly apart along the far shore where soon interrupted by the Arrival of a juvenile Grey Heron, other birds out on the water included Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck and a lone Pochard. A quick look at the watch meant we had to head back towards the Car park, gates being locked at 4pm, Which seemed a little early to end a dry Sunday afternoon! On the path back towards the Sand Martin Hide, the barrier fence that hides the path from the Meadow lake was a little lower, so we were able to peer over the top and snap off a few shots of some Teal sifting through the murky water.

Common Teal

The woodland path back to the main car park didn't show up any wildlife, although I did take a picture of this rather proud looking Fungi. Which I think is a Magpie Fungus but I am most probably wrong in identifying.

Magpie Fungus?

It's been impossible to get out at lunch time so far this week, with thick fog in the south reducing visibility to about 20 metres. and today doesnt look much better with the Carpark view from my Office window reduced to 5 or 6 cars back. So i've had to resort to reading Decembers edition of Bird Watching Magazine which really isn't quite the same!

Beaten By The Binmen!

With a bit more light on offer today, I got the camera out early this morning and sat myself up in the bedroom window, curtains drawn and lens poking through, to see what would come in on the bird table! The resident Robin, a Great Tit, Blue Tits bombing back and forth. Then the Great Spotted Woodpecker appeared, perched atop the nearest telegraph pole, I steadied myself, finger stretched at the ready on the shutter button, all the other birds disappear from the feeders, he calls, he flies towards the Nuts landing on the fence checking out the area, I move position slightly, and then the bloody Dustbin men come, male Woodpecker a gonna!

Robin

I thought Id spend my lunch break around Rooksbury Mill today as the sun kept appearing through the cloud, with the hope of getting some shots of the Kingfisher with better light. A lot of the Blackbirds from wednesday seeming to have vanished with just a few showing up around the reserve. Mute Swans, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Little Grebe & Gadwall all showing on the smaller lake. The larger and main lake almost empty with only 2 Swans a Moorhen and a Coot present.

I returned to the small former watercress bed several times during my lunch hour, as this was the place I saw the Kingfisher earlier in the week, I stood and waited for about a total of 30 mins, hidden behind a bramble patch peering out for a glimpse. Nothing, I could hear a pair calling quite frequently to my right on the main river, but nothing appeared in-front of me. There was however a small bird on the drainage pipes from the other cress beds which enter the pool, Sat preening in the midday sun, not once giving me a glimpse of its tail or wing weathers. The only identification I can give is a Grey Wagtail, possibly a juvenile, attached below are some pictures. Please let me know if you have any other ideas.

It's Rite Grimey Out!

I decided at the risk of being called a fair weather birder to venture out in the grimey mistiness of a Hampshire November day. A change of scenery for my lunch break today Rooksbury Mill LNR, a bit more secluded than Anton Lakes and in a much quieter area of town if you can drown out the sounds of the A303.

I don't think I've seen so many Blackbirds before, every bush and tree housing several, even a couple of the black billed varieties mentioned on Autumnwatch recently. I thought i'd try my luck around the Fishing lake first, not alot at all to report a Mute Swan and a couple of Coots. On the far side the boardwalk path weaves through some old Watercress beds and intertwines with the River Anton. I accidently disturbed a Kestrel from the Ash trees overlooking the water, a small group of Long Tailed Tits in the waterside willows.


The more overgrown area of the reserve starting to show up a few more signs of life. Following the path back around the edge of the Second smaller lake, about half a dozen pairs of Tufted Duck in the middle of the water, joined quite quickly by 3 pairs of Gadwall. A small bridge crosses the River Anton here as it weaves it way through the Clatfords, and in one of the younger Ash Trees on the bank, something caught my eye, now I don't think I've ever seen one in England, the only previous sighting I can recall was on the bird feeding station at the Ben Nevis visitor centre in Scotland. A Treecreeper, I managed to get exactly 3 shots off before it flew off. Never the less another one to properly tick of the list.

Treecreeper

Now when I was speaking to massive camera lens man yesterday he mentioned that the Kingfishers down at Rooksbury Mill were a little trickier to photograph, but that you were more likely to see one. Well I heard them first, and then I saw one, and then it stopped on a post jutting out from the water about 30-40 yards away! Now my pictures are pretty Awful, terrible, grainy, distant. But do you know what! Im over the moon that ive finally caught one on camera!

Kingfisher

Massive Camera Envy

Wandering around the lakes for a spot of birding im sure is the best way to spend my lunch hour rather than being sat at my desk flicking to the internet every 2 mins, Wouldn't you agree? There might be a pattern forming in all of my posts that all sightings are crammed into an hour window around midday.

I'm not usually the jealous type, I just want to enjoy the wildlife and hopefully take a few pics to be proud of, The last few times i've visited Anton Lakes LNR i've seen or heard the Kingfishers, the shallower pool is only about 30 yards from the Car Park, sociable chap that I am, I strike up conversation with a Photographer there, Camera and Airbus Sized Lens set up on his tripod, Second Jumbo Jet Lens and camera resting on the ground!

So there's me feeling all inadequate to be even starting a conversation about Photography with someone who probably has way more expertise and a damn sight more money to spend! And I'm a little bit jealous, i mean why does he need two? Yes two ridiculously huge telephoto's. We talk about the Kingfisher's and how he's seen two today so far, and that they don't seem to want to play ball. He proceeds to show me a picture, all the while complaining about the lighting, the distance and pretty much everything else he could think of. And all the while I'm thinking to myself, id be so proud of that shot. I guess I'm easily pleased!

Anyway rant over, after leaving the guy crying over what might have been, I wandered down the footpath along the circular route. Baring in mind that Anton Lakes slots in between two of Andover's more famous (rough) housing estates. Sunshine for a change bringing out a lot more dog walkers than I'm accustomed to seeing, Lots of Smaller Birds calling in the trees, but a little bit hesitant to come out, but that might have been due to the Female Sparrowhawk circling above..

Female Sparrowhawk

A small flock of Goldfinches on the thistle heads alongside the path, disturbed pretty quickly by a rather large Alsatian and his Tennis ball. Not a lot else to report, seemed to be a lot more Canadian Geese on the lake and a few pairs of Tufted Ducks showing up though.

A lot of Moorhens all the way around the area, but this one caught my eye with quite a nice reflection on the shallower stream heading off towards the meadows.

Moorhen Mirror

So I headed back to the first Pond area, Pro Photographer gone, trying to work out what was the latest possible time I could leave it before I had to trudge back to work. And then at about 2 mins before my
5 mins drive back. I heard one call, a quick flash of Aqua blue, a pretty speedy skim across the top of the water, and gone! Kingfisher Excitement and Anti climax all in one notion.

Evening Sunset

The Day After The Day Before

Where to start, doing the feed rounds with Dad on a rather bright sunny mid November Sunday. 2 Red Kites showing up in pretty much every field on the Estate, fair to say they were probably following us either that or there's about 4 pairs. A trio of Buzzards circling above the Christmas Trees at the back of the Pond, looked as if the thermals were pretty good, I'd imagine scanning the fields to see if there were any missed Pheasants that weren't picked from the Shoot the day before.

Pine Cones

Pied Wagtail

All of the Pine trees are absolutely loaded with Cones at the moment, I'm constantly looking up hoping that I might see a migrant Crossbill tucking in at the top of the tree - but no such luck, just blue sky. Which I guess i should'nt really complain about!

A pair of Pied Wagtail were flitting about close-by up at the Dryer, a pretty common bird round and about the area, but I must admit I couldn't remember the last time I saw one on Apsley - so maybe somewhat of an unusual sighting.

Grey Partridge

Nice to see a Covey of about 18-20 Wild Grey Partridge showing up in the middle of the Estate, giving themselves away instantly with their pretty distinctive call. I also passed the flight pond on the rounds, you never know you might sometimes on the off chance get a glimpse of the elusive Kingfisher, a high chance now that the banks have been cut back and the water can actually be seen.

I did however get a quick glimpse of a Bird, that after pouring through all of the Bird guides at home, I still have absolutely no idea as to what it could have been, Probably about the size of a Snipe, it flushed up from the edge of the water, with a striking White underside and tail feathers, and jet black wings that continued across its back, it flew off at some speed not unlike a Wading bird with the pointing wing shape, calling continually as it disappeared over the river and beyond, quite a shrill Whistling call, Id like to think my bird id skills are pretty good, but I still have no idea at all.

Male Black Redstart

To end the day a first for me and from speaking to Mum and Kath (my sister - the trainee Bird Ringer) a first for them too, Walking the dogs round the old farm buildings, now converted into some rather rural office space - I came upon a rather animated Robin sized bird flitting about on the slates of the buildings roofs, so quickly up came the camera.

Male Black Redstart

I must admit i've had to lighten the photos quite a lot in Photoshop as it was about 4pm and the light fading fast, my initial synopsis being a Male Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) but after snapping off about 20 pics and comparing them when I got home, I can conclude a positive identification of a Male Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) which being perfectly honest in all of my vast 25 years I have never heard of!

So all in all a good day, Just rather annoyed that I didn't get chance to grab a few snaps of the mysterious wading bird.

An Introduction

I am hoping I can use this Blog to give an interesting insight to a few people, and hopefully more than a few, of the Sightings i've made and the Photographs I've capatured of the beautiful wildlife found in the United Kingdom.

But to be honest in could be a lot of posts full oh inert ramblings of completely inaccurate and uninteresting information.

I carry my camera pretty much everywhere I go outside so anything and everything of interest that ive photographed and edited might feature on these pages. I am pretty new to this writing / documenting lark so bare with me! All questions / comments are more than welcomed.

Many Thanks & Let me know if Im either inaccurate, uninteresting or both!

Martin