South Coast End Of March - 2013

With some time off over the Easter Weekend I got the chance to get back down to the South Coast to Pennington & Keyhaven Marshes hoping to catch up with a few species that I had missed throughout the winter on my year list.

The first big surprise was spotting a Little Egret feeding not to far from the main car park with a bigger white heron like bird next to it, a second look and a scramble for the camera confirmed it as a Spoonbill, a stunning bird not all to common in these parts, and one I have never had the luxury of seeing in closish proximity.

After managing to walk further down the path to get level with the bird some disruption caused it to take flight, circling the marsh and flying back straight over top or our heads. Definitely well worth the 40 mile drive alone.

Plenty of other Little Egrets could be seen all along the marsh, with feeding birds close to the sea wall every 200-300 yards or so.

A fair few Brent Geese remained close in off of the sea wall, and were occasionally joined by the odd group of incoming Wigeon. Oystercatchers drawing our attention with their loud alarm calls, regularly skimmed over top of the waves as we made our way down the seawall path towards Lymington.

On route from the English channel Pennington proved a good spot to see some spring migrants, with Chiffchaff's galore feeding at the waters edge alongside each and every pool around the reserve.
Another surprise whilst watching a Great Crested Grebe feeding off of the sea wall was the emergence of a lone Slavonian Grebe starting to loose its winter plumage.

The Red-breasted Mergansers still appeared paired up in the same spot as where I saw them on my last visit in January, although this time the male took flight from the small spit of land where the female sat. A stunning duck and really streamlined.

As always a small area of pebble and beach was left from the incoming tide and 20+ Turnstone waddled up and down the shoreline feeding.

A species I was keen to catch up with this visit was the Spotted Redshank, having somehow missed the wintering group earlier in January, this time however I was soon comfortable I hadn't miss identified the bird for the common Redshank. And even managed some relatively close photographs as 6 or 7 birds fed on the small shallow lagoon.

Throughout the winter I had been desperate to get close to some or our gorgeous wintering duck species. Usually feeding in large flocks on the flooded ground, getting close without disturbing the group had proved quite tricky and unsuccessful. However I found myself able to view a small group of Wigeon and a couple of pairs of Teal at fairly close proximity.

All winter I have had a fairly good success rate on seeing Goldcrests and also seeing them close up. Today was no exception as we spotted a pair in a isolated bush right next to the footpath. A couple of minutes wait and they both showed them self for some photos.

With some great birds in the bag at Pennington, we headed back across the New Forest to Blashford Lakes a slight detour on the route home. Straight away picking up another new migrant species for the year as 5 Sand Martin hurried across the large expanse of Ibsley Water.

A brief pit stop in the woodland hide showed all the usual resident woodland species and also a couple of rosy looking Common Redpoll, a lone male Brambling and some very smart looking Siskin.

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Watermeadow Sunrise - 15th Feb

Having enjoyed the sunset so much the previous evening and having done a bit of weather research, a clear dawn beckoned so begrudgingly I set the alarm for 6am in the hope of getting a little closer to the feeding Mute Swans for some nice low level photography.

Opening the door as the first hint of light hit the dark sky, the cold fingers of Jack frost latched on to me pretty quick, I would need a coat! Walking through the water meadows I could already see a hint of colour against the dark sky. I managed to get myself over the rather narrow bridge in the dark on through into the water meadow.

I set myself up led down in the hope of some low level Swan images and waited, it wasn't long before the sky started to brighten, the pastel hues effecting the colour of the mist that hung above the frosty ground. I don't ever remember being out on such a stunning morning watching the atmospherics changing every second.

Early Morning Light across the Watermeadows

Unfortunately my plan didn't really come to fruition with the Wildlife all the Mute Swans from the night before fed on the floods but they were along way away from my lens, Plenty of Greylag & Canada Geese along with Mallard & Gadwall went about there business flying above my head, every wing beat audible on such a still morning.

A lone Brown Hare emerged out of the mist in front of me, but the light on the ground was still to dark for photography, a real shame as it looked very atmospheric shrouded in mist. As the light started to improve 2 Little Egrets appeared and dropped swiftly down on to the water, soon followed by a Grey Heron, I managed a shot of it landed through the mist although it didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped.

Descending Heron in the morning mist.

As the light got brighter I started to think about making tracks back towards the house and get ready for work. Not what you want on such a stunning morning. I did take a couple more landscape shots before I left the sky now pinker than the original orange colourings half and hour or so before. Quite a stunning hour and a half well worth braving the early alarm and cold for.

Pink sky in the morning - Beautiful

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Watermeadow Sunset - 14th Feb

St.Valentines Day, you may ask was I enjoying a romantic evening with my girlfriend? Well no as she lives 110 miles away, so I was rushing home from work at 5pm to make full use of the remaining light. It had been a cracking day weather wise and having spotted some wintering swans on a freshly flooded area of water meadows I headed off armed with both cameras, big & small lenses. Who needs romance?

Hoping for an exciting wintering Swan visitor I had to make do with our native Mute Swan, but 28 of them fed on the fresh clear shallow channels now covering the meadow. By far the largest number I've seen on the meadows and around the village. Several groups of Geese flew over occasionally coming into land. 12 Canada Geese and 6 Greylag feeding not far from the Swans.

Through the fading light I managed to pick out 3 Snipe on the furthest of the led water, and they were frequently joined by 15 or so Starling. A couple of White outlines against the pastel sky immediately caught my attention in the hope of Barn Owls, but proved to be the ever present Little Egrets.

I tried a couple of slow exposure photographs of the Swans as the light started to dim to no avail, swapping cameras over to make full use of the gorgeous purple, pink and orange hues of one of the best sunsets I have ever seen. Simply Stunning!

Swans at Sunset - What a scene!

Stunning Sky

Long exposure Swan fest

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Bickerley Common - 13th Jan

Goldcrest

We are only 20 odd days into the new year and already I have quite a considerable backlog of blog posts to write. After 2 weeks of solid rain and a dismal saturday, awaking to sunshine on Sunday morning was quite surprising. With no solid plans and Nat down for the weekend, a quick decision was made to try the other end of the South Coast.

Camera, Bino's and warm weather gear packed and in the car on the way to Ringwood. For the past month or so reports have been almost daily regarding a Great White Egret and Glossy Ibis on the Avon floods at Bickerley Common, just outside of Ringwood. This was the first port of call an as we pulled into the rather destructive car park (pot holes everywhere) I stopped a couple of Birders as they walked back to their car. Ibis showing well at a distance but no sign of the Egret. Typical as I have never seen a GWE, but 1 out of 2 can't be bad.

Their is a causeway that runs across the width of the meadows and acts as a great elevated platform to look out either side over the swollen river and flooded meadows. The usual smaller bird flitted between the path side trees. Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird & Dunnock all seen within metres on the path.

Some nearby 'pip-ing' got me searching and I soon picked up half a dozen Meadow Pipit on the stems of the long grass glistening in the bright morning sun. They were quickly joined by a pair of Stonechat, a species I didn't expect to see in such a damp habitat.

As the river meandered out of sight, two large flocks of feeding Canada Geese came into view, with numbers I would guess in excess of 150. The odd Mute Swan preened here and there dotted about across the floods. A White dot in the distance got my attention but too far away to clarify, a passer by saw me checking it out and informed me it was the GWE. Maybe my luck was in, but after getting a little closer 200 yards or so further down the causeway I confirmed it was a Little Egret after all.

This stop for a better view brought me my best views to date of a Goldcrest, as an invading group of Long-tailed Tits descended on the nearby tree, a pair of tiny Goldcrests joined them. I am quite pleased with my photographs, however catching them in the light was a bit of an impossible task shooting towards the sun. They move so fast!

Goldcrest

Finally reaching the main bridge over the meadows, I soon picked up the Glossy Ibis on the far side feeding with plenty of Teal. The shallow water was covered in feeding birds with Teal, Lapwing & Black-headed Gull spread all over the area. A great start to the day, and good to get a Glossy in the notebook!

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Rooksbury Lunchtime - 11th Jan

Finally a lunch time wander in the sunshine, and my first visit to the lakes in the new year. Not a lot about really other than the usual wintering Tufted Duck on the Small lake about half a dozen pairs mixed in with 4 Little Grebe, Moorhen & 2 pairs of Gadwall.

It's funny how wildlife can still make you laugh, the below picture for instance tells the story a little bit but being there made me chuckle. Most of the Tufties headed away from me as I crouched down at the edge of the lakes to take some pics, all except this female. She remained posing for me in some gorgeous low winter sunshine. She suddenly turned around and realised the others had beggared off, and soon was hightailing it off after them, I must admit it still makes me smile now.

The Left Behind Tuftie

The remainder of my walk was pretty fruitless, I did get relatively close to a Little Egret perched up on one of the path side branches, something I have failed to do with the large population we have on the River at home. In the matter of 5 minutes the cloud had descended too. The only other sighting of note was 5 Canada Geese on the big lake.

Little Egret

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Egret Invasion

As mentioned in previous posts there appears to be a massive influx of wintering Little Egret in and around the village. Including a pair that rise from the River at the bottom of the garden most mornings. Seeing the Egrets really isn't a problem, photographing them however appears to be so.

They seem to favour the small channels and streams that run off of the main river, or can be seen on the various watercress beds and flooded areas around the village, all lacking the cover of trees or hedges. Regularly no matter how stealthy I attempt to be I end up flushing the bird before I am anywhere near ready to photograph.

So last week I thought I would have a change of tactic. After doing the circuit of the village on foot and encountering 7 different individuals I came to the conclusion when walking past the stream that runs level with the road through Longparish, that passers by on foot cause the bird to flush every time where as in car no matter how slow you could be going the Egret isn't bothered at all.

So back in the car I got and parked myself up off the road next to the stream, lens out of the window, and so be it in the doom and gloom of the afternoon the Egret came stalking up the stream, Almost level with me when a Car coming in the opposite direction spotted the Egret, pulled up and reversed back, wound down the windows and pointed. Its fair to say I was pretty pissed off as the Egret took flight and was gone.

I did manage a few dingy shots as it stalked up the stream towards me.

Longparish Little Egret

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Watercress Wagtail

With the week between Christmas and New Year off work, I was praying for some decent weather. Thursday the 27th I awoke to rain again and convinced myself that it wasn't going to get better. So you can imagine my delight when just after midday the clouds parted and some sun shone through. Like on Boxing Day the day before, I was up and out, waterproofed up to the max and off around the village.

First stop at the end of the water meadows, several Red Kites circled above the adjoining paddocks of Owls Lodge, 4 in total, and although I couldn't see in the 45 mins or so I watched, they all kept flying low over a certain area of the fence line about halfway down the field, occasionally landing. I guess there was something tasty to eat there.

A large number of Mute Swans - 16 in total, all milled about together on Jackson's Lake, the local rainbow trout fishery. Almost double what I have seen together so far this winter around the village. But then we did have some pretty large families during the spring, probably just two joined up for Christmas Dinner.

With nothing to close to photograph I did a full circuit of the village and came back in on the far side, Longparish has quite a few small watercress beds, private little businesses doted all around the village. This is usually a good spot to pick up a Little Egret. So I snuck into one of them, with my gear hoping for some shots of the flighty Egret or perhaps even a Water Rail out in the open.

Turns out I wasn't stealthy enough and the Egret flew off to other flooded parts of the village. So I found myself a good spot in the corner of the cress beds, with my back to the surrounding trees and the sun. After a couple of minutes scanning I picked up a Grey Wagtail about 20 metres in front of me. It proceeded to feed right up to within 5 metres. Totally oblivious to me snapping away on the 7D.

It was a shame really although only 2pm the sun had dipped beneath the tree line and only a few rays got through to light up the shallow water. Creating a lovely orange glow, the Wagtail however was in the shade for the most part so shot at quite high ISO. I shouldn't complain to much, quite an enjoyable few hours and my closest encounter with the Grey Wagtail to date.

Grey Wagtail

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A Dorset Bird Saturday - Sep 12

After promising myself to be more frequent in my blogs again I find myself a month behind|! Apologies to all.

Other than the Short-Billed Dowitcher Dorset didn't overly have alot to offer in the exciting bird stakes. Radipole Lakes, House Sparrow population thrives on the discarded bread that the kids chuck off the bridge for the Ducks, however getting on the right side of the light to capture a picture of the extremely close Sparrows proved a little bit of a problem, the walkways in late september as well as being adorned by the buzzing of Dragonflies were aloud with the call of Cetti's Warblers, all the way along the reed beds they could be heard although I didn't see one of the illusive little Brown Jobs.

Large skeins of Canada Geese kept coming in to land on the water around the reserve and the sounds of honks in the sky would get me looking skyward to see another skein incoming above the surrounding chimney pots.

With the path to the hide closed due to flooding we made a slow walk back to the car, pausing to watch a Mute Swan swiftly hurtle up the water to intercept an interloper.

Cormorants 

House Sparrow 

Mute Swan on Patrol

After a grabbing a quick bite to eat and a paying for an extortionate car parking ticket we headed around RSPB Lodmoor, the Car Park already delivering a couple of birds, Black-Headed Gulls swooped low looking for discarded lunch, unsuccessfully returning to the nearby telegraph poles looking for the next target. More surprisingly a couple of Carrion Crows hobbled around on the ground, youngsters I presumed, but not a bird you see up close that often as there countryside cousins are rather crafty and cautious.

All the way around the Marshy ground and scrapes of the Lodmoor reserve, Grey Herons along with the odd Little Egret poised motionless waiting for fish, a couple fairly close to the pathways and seemingly not a bit bothered by the passer byes. The main scrapes seemed empty of many wading birds except quite a few Lapwing, either in summer plumage or juveniles they stalked slowly around in the shallow water, enabling quite a few nice reflections. 

The only other bird seemingly enjoying the shallow water was Teal, lots of odd pairs popped up all the way around the reserve. We did get a brief glimpse of a Marsh Harrier as it lifted up from the middle of the reed bed, doing a quick circuit and disrupting the majority of the gulls before returning back out of sight.

Black Headed Gull

Carrion Crow

Grey Heron

Lapwing

Drake Teal

By the time we had left Lodmoor and taken the scenic route around to RSPB Arne the light was starting to fade and the weather changing for the worse, not a lot showing close up, but Advocet, 
Bar-Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Teal & Mallard all showing out on the Middlebere Chanel.

I did manage a new tick on the species list for 2012, when we made it round to the hide overlooking the salt marsh and distant Poole Harbour beyond, a juvenile Spoonbill could be spotted stood amongst a group of 13 Little Egrets.

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