South Coast & Rooksbury 10th - 13th Feb

After a couple of weeks of fairly bright weather, the rains returned, seemingly at weekends and lunch hours when I had time to get out. I did having watched it piss down for most of Saturday decided to brave it on the Sunday and take a drive down to the coast.

First stop Hatchet Pond in the New Forest a nice waterside car park allowing a good view of the pond without having to get wet, Mallard, Black-headed Gull and a couple of Herring Gull all present. From there I headed towards Sowley Pond, picking up a lone Red Kite, presumedly at the Southern most point of the UK range. 

Plenty of Chaffinches flew up from the roadside ditches but no sign of any Brambling. I passed several ploughed fields one covered in around 2000 Rooks, the other a mix of Lapwing and Pied Wagtail.

Arriving at Sowley Pond, I found my self a viewing gap from the road having a quick scan for some Mallard, Great-crested Grebe and around 30 Pochard. Quite a high count for an otherwise quiet lake.

Next stop on my wet whistle stop tour of the south coast, Lepe, not timing my visit very well as the tide was mere metres from the car park reducing the beach to a small sand pit. Plenty of Turnstones and Black-headed Gulls touring the car park, with the occasional flyby of a larger Herring Gull. I did have a rather amusing encounter watching the Turnstones flipping over pebbles before being scattered by an incoming Carrion Crow, who then proceeded to steal said stone.

With the tide reaching further in I headed the short distance around the coast to Calshot, by this time the weather having taken an even further turn for the worse. Having to park the car passenger side on to the wind and rain, I managed to make out around 25 Brent Geese and 2 Black-tailed Godwit feeding on a grassy area in front of the power station.

Giving up for the day I headed home the scenic route up the Test Valley, stopping at Mottisfont for a ganders on the bridges, the only bird of note, a male Kestrel perched atop a bank side tree.

Carrion Crow - Pebble and all!

Monday morning on the way to work, the car gives up the ghost just yards from the front door, lucky it wasn't the day before 40 miles from home. The garage say it will cost more to repair than what its worth so seemed like the kick up the arse I needed to look for a new motor. Which by Tuesday evening having found, looked around and test drove, I agreed to purchase. I've never spent £8000 quite so quickly nor I doubt I will again.

Using the truck as my daily commute, I did manage to get out on the Wednesday lunchtime around the lakes, but the wildlife seemed as scarce as the sunshine, so I made do with photographing the resident Mute Swans. Who still seem to be pretty happy with the presence of last years cygnet, although I am guessing in coming weeks he/she might find him/herself out on his/her ear.

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Blashford Woodland Hide

With weeks of Slimbridge posts I can finally get on to some other wildlife encounters. Unfortunately I am still over a month behind and really should get my fingers loose for plenty of typing.

The following Sunday from my trip to Slimbridge, the girlfriend was down and with some pretty indifferent weather we headed down to Blashford lakes. The main car park was flooded along with the Tern Hide that overlooks the huge expanse of Ibsley Water. That instantly put a massive dent in my visit.

As the rain started to come down we headed for shelter in the Woodland hide. A cracking hide with loads of feeders but only with one partition that opens to allow clean photography. As you can imagine this prime piece of real estate by the window is most usually frequented. And in previous visits as Im sure I've blogged, I have encountered photographers who have bragged about being sat there all day.

Luckily today after 15 minutes or so the old couple that were there up and left, and I was on hand to slide my considerable girth along the wooden bench and into position. As mentioned there are loads of feeders attracting a wide variety of woodland birds. Within minutes, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll, Great spotted Woodpecker, Pheasant, Collared Dove and several stunning male Bramblings had visited the different feeders.

Nuthatch - Check Out The Tongue Action

I try nowadays not to capture birds on the feeders as branches give a far more natural look. This however isn't always easy, especially when the birds tend to land directly on the feeders. I must admit I couldn't resist a few shots of the ever present Nuthatches who were not at all bothered by the camera just a few feet away.

Brambling Male

Goldfinch

The main purpose of my visit was to hopefully catch a few shots of the gorgeous Lesser Redpoll, but after waiting a good hour for them to land on the nearby branches I had to make do with a few feeder shots. The light was changing every 2 or 3 minutes as the clouds rolled by above, which when leaving a clear path for the sun created a lovely glow on the bracken behind the birds.

Now I hear you say I sat in the window a good hour, now that would make me as bad as everyone else I earlier moaned about. But as several other photographers entered and rather annoyingly shot over my shoulders with there lenses, 5 minutes or so later I packed up and let someone else have my spot. Turns out no one filled it so I sat back down. Playing fair isn't it?

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

Cock Chaffinch

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Willow Hide Blue Tits

Stunning Blue Tit

I spent some time in the new Willow Hide at Slimbridge, situated really close to the feeding stations, a little to close if im honest, the birds are really skittish of any movement in the hide. A lovely collection of 'Garden' birds visited in a constant stream. Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and even a rather quick Lesser Redpoll.

The light was beautiful, highlighting the last of the autumnal colours in the bushes behind the birds, so I made the most of photographing some rather photogenic Blue Tits.

Cock Chaffinch

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Pembrokeshire - Part 2

So determined to make it out too Skomer on Friday, before the weekend hoards arrived we packed up all the gear on Thursday evening and were up and out of the Boathouse by 7.50am joining the already 20 strong queue down at Martin's Haven for the first boat to Skomer which departed at 10am. Within minutes the first 50 places on the boat were taken and 30 or so cars joined ours in the car park. So with an hour and a bit to kill, I thought I'd have a wander up and around the Deer Park in the early morning gloom, the fog from the previous day still hanging in the air, although visibility was a lot better. Loads of small birds perched and singing from the tops of the gorse bushes, with Whitethroat, Linnet, Chaffinch, Sedge Warbler, Meadow Pipit and Stonechat all seen. I walked out to the furthest point, and was rewarded by a fly by of about 15 or so Chough all calling as they dived and weaved their ways along the cliff edge.

Whitethroat

As the clock neared 10 we headed down the very steep road towards the embarkation point, whilst Nat used the public conveniences I was distracted by the close proximity of the Swallows visiting their nests on the Toilet building, eager to try and get a closish shot I soon got the lens cap off but the morning gloom left me disappointed, however some chirping behind me caused me to turn around and see a Swallow perched no more than 15 feet away preening and stretching its wings. Not all that often you see them perched on anything other than a Telephone wire so I was quite pleased to see one on an isolated bramble. Even better with a Green backdrop.

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Meadow Pipits Aplenty

Another weekend spent at the Girlfriend's in Shropshire, and I set off hoping for some migrants on the upper moorlands in the south of the county. Saturday morning we headed off to the Long Mynd hopeful for a break in the showers, first bird spotted as we reached the top of the hill from Church Stretton, a Meadow Pipit, I managed to grab a few shots thinking maybe this new addition to my species list might not be see again. How wrong I could be! Its fair to say Im not sure which was more numerous along the length of the Long Mynd, Meadow Pipits or People, hundreds if not a thousand or more Walkers and Cyclists seemed tp appear over every brow and in every gully, about every 50 yards along the road. The Meadow Pipits also seemed to be just as numerous rising and chasing each other from the heather.

Particularly Happy With This Shot 

Meadow Pipit

Other bird life was pretty scarce, Im guessing because of the invasion of people, all I noted were Ravens, 3 Buzzards, 2 Kestrels, 2 Red Grouse, and numerous Chaffinches, some of which the cock birds were very inquisitive, forcing me to retreat a little so I could focus properly.

Cock Chaffinch 

Hillside Ponies

Waking up to clear skies on Sunday Morning we headed off to Titterstone Clee, with the hope of a Ring Ouzel and Wheatear. The Wheatear was a confirmed tick as we saw 25-30 pairs all around half way up to the summit, and a few around the quarry. Even mixing in with a couple of Linnet. Unfortunately they all remained very flighty, and I couldn't get close enough for a shot I was happy with. We did also get a brief glimpse of a Peregrine in the gale force winds before it shot off out of sight elsewhere.

So compared to my last weekend visit not the most successful of trips, but 4 new species added to my list for 2012 so It cannot all be bad.

Back To Blackcap

With the addition of the Reed Bunting to the garden species list, also a frequent visitor is the Blackcap, I've not seen a female for over a week, but around lunchtime yesterday there where 4 Males visiting the feeders at the bottom of the garden, along with an array of Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit & Great Tit. We only ever seemed to see the Blackcaps on the odd occasion at Apsley, so definitely nice to have some different regular visitors. Great spotted Woodpecker, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff and Song Thrush were also frequent visitors to the garden yesterday.

Birding About

Here is a selection of Bird pics from last weekend. Taken whilst out and about around the village. Looks quite promising that there is a Grey Wagtail pair nesting on the Riverbank at the bottom of the garden so Im hoping too get some better pics in coming weeks.

Cock Chaffinch

Dunnock

House Sparrow

Cock Sparrow

Chiffchaff

Grey Wagtail

Mistle Thrush

New Surroundings

It's been in the pipeline for several months now, but with the go ahead, the family home is moving from the Wildlife haven of Apsley Estate - 4.2 miles down the road to the small hamlet of Forton, near Longparish. Now having lived in the same house in the middle nowhere surrounded by rolling fields and plenty of woodland, moving to a Hamlet with other inhabitants may not seem the most attractive of offers.

So my excitement was pretty noticeable, when Dad mentioned he was taking on the River Keepers role on the River Test and therefore discovering the River runs through the bottom of the new garden. "Generally regarded as the birthplace of modern fly fishing, and the best chalk stream fishing in the world..." with plenty of water meadows and small patches of woodland beyond. So with a résumé like that, one would imagine its wildlife would be pretty special too. 

With plenty of work to do before we can move 25 years of living down the road, Sunday was spent in the garden, ripping out the rough ground ready for the veg patch. And general tidying up of the over grown mess. I must however admit I was distracted most of the day by the new "Garden Wildlife" 5 Red Kites, performed acrobatics above the house near enough all day, with the sunlight catching them it was a pretty special sight! The below pictures were taken mid morning.

Red Kite

Red Kites

Red Kites

Heading home for a spot of lunch, I made sure to pick up the smaller 55mm Lens to see if I could get all 5 in shot. So by 3pm we headed back down armed with Camera and Bushwacker. 45 mins later Im back skiving with the camera as 4 Kites circled directly over top of the house for a good 15 mins, joined by a Buzzard, for most of the day they called too, which I've never experienced at such frequent intervals. Below are a couple of shots from yesterday afternoon.

4 at Once!

Red Kite

Once I'd finished my gardening duties I did get 10-15mins to sit down on the River Bank quietly around 4.30pm, surprising how many species made there way on to the new garden list in that short period. Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Mallard, Water Rail, Greylag Goose, Little Egret, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Chaffinch & Moorhen. 

Bring on many hours wasted away by the river!

Mute Swans

Mute Swan