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.

Success on the doorstep..

Yearlisting isnt easy when you cant tell one Gull from another, but luckily I know a Short Eared Owl when I see one - even though I never had..

Spent yesterday afternoon walking around the Downs of West Ilsley, looking for a Great Grey Shrike that had been reported for the last 2 days..

2 hours and no sign.. plenty of Fieldfare and Corn Bunting, but no Shrike.

A couple I met at the Car Park had just seen it, but everyone else on the Downs hadnt.. Wasnt looking good.

Had kinda thrown in the towel and was just about to part company with a few people I was with, when I noticed something large and brown flying behind us in the field..

Hello Short Eared Owl!! The aimless meandering around the Gallops had now become worth it..

It spent 30 minutes flying around, hunting.. A great sight!

2 hours on a windswept Gallop was just about enough for me and I started to head back.

Submitted the Owl on http://www.berksbirds.co.uk/ and checked to see what was going on in the world of Facebook and Twitter on the long walk back to the car.. Just happened to look up and saw this long tailed bird in a Hawthorn Bush.. Result!! Hello Great Grey Shrike.. Just goes to show that you shouldnt give up.. :o)

Autumn Sunset

This Autumn has provided some cracking sunsets.. I took this pic as a favour for my Landlady who was making a photobook for her hubby who is in the Navy and away at the moment, chasing Pirates in the Gulf.

She wanted a 'walking away' pic for the rear of the book and knowing how good the sunsets have been recently I suggested we headed down the road and try and catch one of these.

We didnt get a great sunset, but the sky turned a fantastic colour once the sun had set..

I was happy with the results.

Another day, another adventure..

10 days off and I don't want to waste a second, so today was an adhoc day out, arranged the night before, but couldn't have been much better.

Bought a new Scope yesterday and wanted to try it out, properly, so managed to organise a trip to Pennington / Normandy with a new Wingman called Grant.

Grant is a great photographer and all round 'good egg' who I met in my time at Rooksbury, Andover - and I asked him of he fancied a trip out to the Mecca that is this South Coast hotspot.

We tried to tempt Joe, repeatedly, but no luck.. So I was the Guide for the day :o)

We parked in Normandy Lane and called in at Normandy Marsh 1st.. It was fairly quiet compared to normal, Greenshank, Redshank, Little Plover and Cormorant were the major players on the water.. but from the side we spotted a Wheatear or two flying around..

Whilst there, we sat on the Sea wall and spent some time looking over the mudflats.. Curlew everywhere!!! and a few Grey Plover.. which I wanted to photo, but the low sun behind - made it hard.

Walking back to the car, and through a field of Cows and Horses, we saw around a dozen (i'm not a notebook boy) Yellow Wagtail.. The long grass made it very difficult to get a clear shot though.

From Normandy we drove down to Pennington.. if you know the area, you know how far a walk that is!! As we started walking along the seawall I saw over a dozen Turnstone.. Grant said he would of completely missed these.. and looking at them you can see how well they blend in to their surroundings - which obviously makes photo'ing them quite hard!


Pennington and Butts were actually quite quiet.. Dunlin and L Plovers flying about. No Dartfords this time - which is rare for that part of the Reserve. A few Curlew and Little Egret on the mudflats, Swallows skimming the lagoons, but not much else..
With a few Osprey sightings locally, we did keep one eye on the sky - and after touring Pennington (and a pint in the pub) I suggested we hit Lower Test Marshes at Totton on the way home.. An Osprey was listed there on Monday, but nothing since.. Grant was trying to get a great shot of Egret, and I knew Totton wouldn't disappoint, so we headed there.

Parking next to the Pub that never has customers - we strolled down the track to the Reserve.. Checked every dead tree, but no Osprey.. so headed along the soon to be flooded boardwalk, checking the viewing screens, to the main Hide.

Once inside we were greeted by 4 Grey Heron, perched on the errr Perch... looking for lunch.. Egret everywhere too, mostly flying over, but a rough count (again, no notebook) and we estimated over a dozen Little Egret in the area.. 15 yrs ago, and I hadn't seen 1 in this country!!

Anyhoo.. time was ticking, the Heron had flew, we were about to leave when a female Kingfisher landed on the Heron perch.. Goes to show that patience is a virtue.. :o)

Farlington.. Everything's heading South..

Blimey.. No update for nearly 2 months! I blame it on my decision to support the local pubs..

Autumn Migration is officially on... and today me and Joe hit Farlington Marshes.. A large area off of Langstone Harbour, situated East of Fratton, Portsmouth and south of the M27.

Targets were Osprey and Little Stint.. Both listed in the last few days.. Being 'migration' time and owing to the landscape.. anything could have turned up though.. We were optimistic.

Parking up and hobbling to the Reserve, ( i have a poorly foot and Joe walks at 200mph) the first thing we noticed was a Summer Plumage Grey Plover.. Ive only seen winter plumage birds before and was impressed at how eyecatching they are.. Just as I got the camera out - it disappeared behind a mudflat.. There were plenty of Curlew and Redshank though.

A check of the lake and scrape areas found no Little Stints, but a yearticks in the form of 2 Curlew Sandpipers.. A nice Ruff next to them too. Unfortunatley a Sparrowhawk scared everything off the lake and so we moved on. A Peregrine was also picked up by Joe a bit further on.

Leaving the lake, we headed East along the path to look over the RSPB Island and the search for Osprey or what ever was there. Again, Joe found us one.. flying around the water.. looking to swoop for a fish.. It was a way off, so apologies for the poor picture..

Walking around the Reserve, we searched for any passing migrants.. Whinchat were in good numbers, considering I'd only ever seen 1..

We also saw a Spotted Flycatcher (embarrassed to say that's a yeartick) and the cow field had a few Yellow Wagtail in. Another yeartick (and Life Tick) was the 5 or so Bearded Tit we saw flying around the Reedbeds.. too quick to photo, and to really see properly, but chuffed to tick that one off.

Back to the car and a quick nip down the A27 to the edge of Hayling Island.. Target - a Red Necked Grebe.. No luck, but a dog going out to Sea with a lifejacket on made up chuckle.. As did a boat full of Turnstone..

The day ended with a call in at Crawley Duck Pond.. this place is soooo posh, the Duck House is thatched!! Crawley has a few resident Mandarin Duck, snoozing in the afternoon sun.. I have seen Wood Duck there too, but they seem to have popped out for the day..

One Turtle Dove, but thats always enough..

Bloody Turtle Dove!! I spent 2010 thinking they were made up! Everyone else was seeing the apart from me! Then I got lucky.. A few weeks ago on Stockbridge Down - and one finally obliged. Wondering if Lightening could possibly strike twice I headed back today to 'grab a money shot'.. Ok, no joy there, but was v happy to hear then see one of these semi-fictional beasts. Purring away in one of the middle copses..

Shots arent great, they are hard to get close to, unless youre called Joe.

From there I nipped down to Acres Down in the New Forest.

Got very lost in the woodland and thought I was a done for! but eventually found the Car Park again.. phew!! A walk up to the Raptor View Point proved the most valuable part of the trip as 2 Goshawk were flying over the treetops. (never seen more than 1 since this May).. and there were plenty of my new fave birds about too.. Sorry Wheatear, but Redstarts are straight in at No.1!! too bloody quick to photo though..

Norman.... One cute dude.

Norman is a coloured colt from Boomerang Blade. Boomer ran in the 1000 Guineas in the 1999 and won the Doncaster Yearling Selling Stakes in 98. This race was the richest race for 2yr olds.. £179,000 to the winner!

Sam looked after Boomer when she worked at Bryan Smart's yard when he was based in Lambourn.

When Boomer left training she became a Broad Mare and produce 5 foals for owner John Ford.

The Ford family gave Boomer to Sam last year and Sam was keen to produce her own foal - with a future eye on eventing it - so Boomer was covered by a Show Jumper and Norman is the result.

A very cute foal that was born at 5pm on Thursday. I was pleased to be able to go over and see the cute fella, and Boomer, today..

The marvellous New Forest.

Another Birthday, another day for getting out there and enjoying the lovely weather.. What would I do if my Birthday was in November?

Last year it was Normandy / Pennington, this year searching for a few new Yearticks, myself and my friend (and knowledgable guide) Joe hit the New Forest.. The first time Id really spent any decent time here, despite driving through it probably hundreds of times.

1st stop was a lovely area called Acres Down. A Raptor view point offered great views..
Cuckoos, Stonechat, Woodlark and Tree Pipits.. the last 2 being 'lifers' for me - all showed very well. Sat on the hill top, we could feel ourselves cooking in the Sun.. after 2 hours and an increasing crowd of plonkers, we decided to head into the woodland.. This was a very wise move as it offered amazing views of Redstart and Wood Warblers.. again, 2 lifers.. Going with an expert really makes a difference as Joe picked out a Firecrest in a nearby Pine Tree.
Today was going really well..

Male Redstart.

Firecrest


Wood Warblers were common in the woods.

Joe 'swapping lenses'.

A 'Four spotted Chaser'??

From the New Forest, we headed to Stockbridge, in search of a mythical creature.. Turtle Dove... Never seen one, heard one and am seriously doubting whether they are made up!! But continue the search.

Lots of Butterfly on Stockbridge Down.. Someone asked us if we had seena Duke of Burgundy?? It s a Butterfly apparently.. obviously we hadnt. But a Willow Warbler was showing well.