Swallows and Amazonial weather.

Spent a very enjoyable afternoon at Thatcham Discovery Centre a few weekends ago showing my friend Grant and his son Jack around my local patch.

Feeding the Geese and then trying to snap the Swallows and House Martins that were feeding on the lake. Must have been around 200 of them, just back from Africa and fueling up after the 5000km journey.

 Grant trying to teach the Geese some table manners..  #fail.

 Elvis, the resident RC Pochard who was very loved up with a Mallard.. 

 Feeding Swallows

 House Martin

 The top Swallow mouth wide open.

And then a walk around Lower Farm GP, to see the Heronry and also where the Cormorants were nesting..

More from the garden... I'm very lucky :o)

 One of two that regularly visit.

 A Goldcrest, with the camera set up completely wrong, which of course you only realise afterwards.

 Someone else likes watching them too..

 Whilst they were watching the sunset.

 Just to prove 2 GS Woodies visit.. :o)

This is Mike II.

Makes a change from Sparrows...

Some more shots from today...

Garden Visitors...

A recent house move has paid off rather nicely as far as visitors to the garden feeders are concerned.

In the old place, I had taken the Nyger seeds down, as nothing visited.

Here its very different. With in 20 minutes of them being up - 2 Goldfinch & Greenfinch chomping away.

Other regulars (very regular) visitors are 2 Nuthatch and a pair of Great Spotted Woodpecker - and 3 of those have been seen at one time in the trees nearby.  

Ok, its gonna be expensive feeding this lot..  But i ain't complaining.

 Nuthatch

 Long Tailed Tits

 A Coal Tit and Great Tit.

 Goldfinch

 Greenfinch

Great Spotted Woodpecker

A Summers Day in February

The location of today's adventure was the Gallops of West Ilsley..

Hen Harrier were the target. Midweek someone had listed a pair and the usual Merlin on the berksbirds website. The sun was shining and from a previous trip's experience, there was also the chance of SEOs..  

So why not.

Things were looking up as soon as I reached the Gallop.. 

2 birds of prey, perched on different Hawthorn bushes, but they turned out to be Kestrels..  Loved up Kestrels as it turned out.. and the mood was right for both of them as they got rather friendly.

Continuing my walk up the Gallop and something large was spotted, flying low over the long grass in the distance.. Short Eared Owl..  Happy days!

I took my old camera with me today as I am yet to match the zoom capabilities on my new one.. Everytime (only 4) that I have seen SEOs I've failed to get a decent picture. Today, with 4 flying around I got lucky :o)

Corn Bunting were abundant up there and they posed quite nicely in the last moments of the golden sunshine.. A very pleasant afternoon for February.

  

Corn Bunting

And this is the sunset they were watching. 

Bittern by the bug . . . . . . grooooan.

That was one of the better titles too!

Monday 20 February, another adventure and a return to Blashford Lakes near Ringwood -The winter home of at least 2 Bittern.

I've only ever seen 1 Bittern twice before in my life time, both from close range as they flew from reedbeds. 

The first view being a very brief view as one flew away from me as I was walking around Woolhampton GP. The second was at Testwood Lakes in January 2011. Another accidentally 'flushed' bird that offered better views than the first as it tried to blend in with the reeds. (details here http://chriscountryfiles.blogspot.com/2011/02/another-day-another-tour-of-hampshire.html ). 

Blashford was listing at least 2 Bitterns and boasting that they were showing well from Ivy North Hide so a trip out with my friend Grant was arranged.

We arrived at Blashford at Noon and went straight to Tern Hide. A few Goldeneye, Goosander and the usual Cormorants, Grebes and more common types of Gulls, but the water was generally quiet. 5 Barnacle Geese on one of the islands were a nice surprise but not much else. Grant had never been to Blashford before so seeing birds like Goldeneye was a new experience for him. I searched hard for the Smew that was supposedly on the lake, but couldn't find it.  Me and Smews have that kind of relationship.

A quick chat with a couple next to us, they had just come from Ivy and seen the Bittern!!    Game On!

Ivy North was packed! Someone had arranged the benches to their convenience (and nobody elses) and set up camp in the corner..  How kind.. The rest of us were being polite ish.. and gazing, with consideration to others, through the fixed glass, We didn't have to wait long. Within 10 minutes a Bittern appeared, actually from right in front of us.. How on earth it got there without anyone noticing - I don't know!

The thing with reedbeds is that they always get in the way.. 

No clean shots, but the best Bittern views I have ever had.

After a while, the smell of the great unwashed got too much, so we decided to go to what was a quieter Woodland Hide and have lunch. Plenty of Greenfinch, Redpoll, Chaffinch and Great and Blue Tits on show, as well as an occasional view of a Nuthatch and G S Woody..  

Then a Sparrowhawk flew over and everything disappeared.....  for a long time!!

A return to Ivy and again, after a 10 minute wait, we were greeted with 2 Bittern.. 

Both no more than 10 metres away and really not bothered about hiding.

It was really hard to leave when you're watching a Bittern, but time was pressing on.. 

A return to Tern Hide and a good view of a Peregrine through the scope - then the news that Bewicks and a Whooper are at Harbridge... Gotta be worth a look on the way home as its just down the road, especially as Grant is, shall we say -  a bit keen on taking pictures of Swans.

Harbridge has a fabulous stone River Bridge that one day, when I've figured out how and when, will lend itself to an amazing picture, but not today. 

Swans were plentiful. Many Mute Swans in the surrounding fields, then we spot 5 Bewicks in a small piece of water in a field. Nice..

The tip was to head to the field behind the Church.. Here, what started out as around 40 Mute Swans ended up as over 200 grazing in the fields surrounding us! As we stood there, more and more flew in.. Keen not to miss out, 2 Egyptian and many Greylag Geese flew in, the 5 Bewick Swans circled and then....  a lone Whooper Swan flew over us and into a field behind.. 

All 3 UK Swans in one space -in the space of 5 minutes - and not at a Reserve! 

Doubt that will ever happen to me again :o)

Incoming Mute Swan.

The Bewicks flying over.

Bransbury Common, Owl Mecca.

The last day of a 3 day weekend and the wind had finally dropped..

Bransbury Common had been the chosen destination for a while, but the wind has been too strong recently to consider sitting in a field for 2 hours as the temperature drops.

Why Bransbury??  Owls..  Short Eared Owls to be precise.. A good spot on the right day, as my friend Grant had seen 5 the Monday before.. Joe (http://birdthings.blogspot.com/) had introduced Bransbury to me late last year, and being so close I can see a lot of time being spent there.

Last Sunday it offered great views of a Barn Owl hunting and today the same, plus we got lucky in seeing 2 Short Eared Owls..

Still learning with my new camera, so shots are brilliant at all, but we'll get there.

 The Barn Owl flying over us, checked us out, and flew over us again.. Magic!

 Sitting in a boggy field, I'm glad I took my flask and a plastic bag to sit on!

 In between the Owl shows, a Roe Deer decided to come over and check us out.

The SEO's came out as we were losing the light.. Great to see at least 2 flying around (probably 3).

Lots more learning and practice needed in the camera department though.

The 1st adventure...

with the new camera..  

Happy Christmas to me as I bought myself a Canon EOS 600 over the Christmas period..  I have always wanted an digital SLR but have previously resisted buying a good camera until I could use the more basic ones I've had in the past..  In truth, I'm still the fumbling idiot with a camera, but have missed taking black and white shots, so after much hiding inside over the Xmas, I finally ventured out..  

Combe Gibbet and Hungerford Marshes were the chosen destinations.. 

Both excellent areas of countryside that favour the b&w shots.

Combe Gibbet is famous locally as a wooden post that 2 local criminals, back in the day, have previously been hung from (hung in Winchester Prison and then taken to the Gibbet) to remind locals why they shouldn't break the law...  more info on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combe_Gibbet if you're bored.  

And if you're really bored... . and brave... go up there at night time. SPOOKY!!!

 Synchronised Sheep

 A fishing comp on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Marsh Lock, Hungerford.

 A 'hovis' shot.

I believe this dog used to be in Dexy's Midnight Runners?

RSPB Otmoor.. Way Up North !!

RSPB Otmoor. a Reserve to the North of Oxford that someone had listed on twitter had 8 Short Eared Owls a few days before...  Well, that was enough for me -  and a Road Trip was quickly arranged with Tm for a Sunday afternoon stroll... Would we be lucky?

Otmoor is big! and with just one raised path through the middle of a massive amount of fields we were confident that we'd see one if they were there.

Close the the car park is a load of Bird Feeders and this Great Spot was helping itself to peanuts from one of the feeders.

Towards the middle of the Reserve we stopped at one of the Screened area.. A viewing point to look over the reedbed and water.. 

A few people were there, we asked if they had seen anything of note??  A Peregrine in a nearby tree was pointed out, but nothing else... then an SEO flew over... Very high.. But no mistaking it..

Sadly that was the only one we saw.. We walked up further, had a quick look in a very posh hide, nicer than any house I'd ever lived in.. but apart from some Greylags and a funny hybrid goose, not much else.

From the Screens we saw a fair few Canada Geese, acting like Sheep.

It was now around 4pm, the sun was setting, a few Fieldfare were flying around the bushes.. 

The Starling murmeration will be spectacular there if they all joined forces, but as it was, they dropped in, a few thousand at a time - there must have been at least 20k there in total, but all in 'small' groups.

A few 'mood' shots on the long walk back to the car, including the bottom one that I sent to Meridian Tonight for them to show on their Weather slot - which they kindly did..  :o)

As for the SEO's...  Otmoor is definitely unfinished business.