New Forest and Pennington

Saturday 27th January 2007


nuthatch

Weather wise it wasn’t looking too bad.   Dry and not as cold as earlier in the week, so off we headed to the coast.

Not sure how it happened but we ended up in the Arboretum at Blackwater. Butterflies were everywhere, a red admiral even landed on me.  It felt more like a spring day than a winters one.

We saw some goldcrests and a wren and later on  a few hawfinches arrived. Then we went to the other side of the woods and saw a treecreeper,nuthatch and a great spotted woodpecker, various tits and finches, robins, blackbirds and I noticed a buzzard overhead.

62. treecreeper

After our picnic lunch we headed down to Pennington to see if we could find some pintails.

We parked the car at Pennington Marshes and on the walk down to the coast we met a lady birder we have seen down there many times before.   She said she  was on the look out for some Ruffs. She thought  we would probably see a Kingfisher down on the lagoons now that most of the people had gone home. She also said we would see some pintails.

She wasn’t wrong, within five minutes we had seen some pintails and two kingfishers! We also saw the Slavonian Grebe she said was  close to the shore.

Two female Red Breasted Mergansers were on the lagoon and a Kingfisher came along and seemed to bump into one of them. Could the Kingfisher have been taking a fish from the Red Breasted Merganser?? I’m not quite sure what happened there.

There were more surprises to come though.... five spotted redshanks and one greenshank, fairly rare this time of the year I would think.

Then on the way home I noticed some daffodils in Lymington, the first ones I have seen this year.


63. pintail
64. kingfisher
65. slavonian grebe
66. greenshank
67. spotted redshank
68. red-legged partridge (sowley)

Cranes Moor

Tuesday 23rd January 2007



I was in the middle of a pile of ironing when my husband unexpectedly finished work early and suggested we go for a walk in the New Forest . Oh dear! decisions decisions......what should I do? stay in and finish the ironing.........I don't think so!!

It was a bright sunny day, but freezing cold and I mean freezing cold so I put on four t.shirts, a cardi, a fleece jacket and a coat over.   Plus tights,  socks and jeans, scarf, gloves and woolly hat! One day I will invest in some proper thermals!

We went to Cranes Moor and before we had left the carpark we had already seen, robins, bullfinches, a mistle thrush, magpies, green finches, crows and wood pigeons. It was the bullfinches that made my day though. Years ago we   used to live  on the Isle of Wight,   where  a pair of bullfinches would visit   the  damson tree in our back garden. I didn't know anything much about birds then, so I   had to identify them from an old bird book.   Since we moved to the mainland I hadn't seen a bullfinch in years but this month I have already seen 4 of them. It makes me realise how I have had my eyes closed for years!

We crossed the road from the carpark and walked across the moor but it was very quiet with one lone robin braving the freezing cold wind to sing us a song.

60. mistle thrush
61. jackdaw



Afterwards we called at Blashford Lakes and had a look in all three bird hides. I especially like the woodland hide and we stayed there for quite a while watching the little birds. Great tits, blue tits, long tailed tits, green finches, chaffinches, goldfinches, and a nuthatch - just magic!

Sturt Pond and Pennington Lagoon

Sunday 21st January 2007


meadow pipit

I often wake up in the mornings with a song in my head, I'm sure I must sing in my sleep! Todays song is... Lucky Day, by Chris Rea.   And with the sun pouring in through the window I thought, yes, maybe this will be my lucky day!

We decided to go down to Milford-on-Sea in the hope of seeing the Bearded Tits seen there yesterday. It was high tide and we couldn't get to the other side of sturt pond with  so much water on the path. So we took a detour through the field and saw our first meadow pipit of the year.

Later on we stopped at Pennington Marshes and went for a walk down to the sea.  We were looking for Pintails but unfortunately we  didn't see any. Then just as we were going to call it a day I noticed a group of ducks further along Pennington Lagoon. As we got closer to them I could see they were Red-breasted Mergansers. Fantastic! I've only ever seen them in books before. There were 5 drakes and 5 females all diving under the water together. What a way to end the day and it made up for not seeing the Pintails and the Bearded Tits.

57. meadow pipit
58. rook
59. red-breasted merganser

PS - It's only January but we had a bumble  bee in our kitchen today!

Keyhaven

Saturday 20th January 2007



By the time we were ready to leave home the rain had stopped and it was bright and sunny although very windy. We went to Keyhaven on the Hampshire Coast a favourite place of mine.

Saturdays are quiet in Keyhaven during the winter months.  Just the way I like it. We walked the sea wall to Pennington and saw lots of lovely birds including a large flock of lapwing flying overhead.  Just perfect against the bright blue sky. There are various lagoons along the way and you never know just what will turn up in each one. We were walking back to the carpark via the inland road when the heavens opened. Thankfully the rain didn't last long and afterwards a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky.

49. turnstone
50. shelduck
51. wigeon
52. shoveler
53. lapwing
54. teal
55. moorhen
56. dunnock

Blashford Lakes

Wednesday 17th January 2007


blashford faeries

We managed a quick trip to Blashford this afternoon. Had a look in the hides and saw our first pochards of the year. Also noticed the wee faeries are back in the woods again!

48. pochard

Cranes Moor

Tuesday 16th January 2007



We went for a 30 minute walk in Cranes Moor today.   It was after 4pm so not much daylight left. A kestrel was perched on the telegraph wire and  a woodpecker  landed in a pine tree close to us. I hadn't associated woodpeckers with pine trees before. It was a Great Spotted and looked lovely with the sun going down behind it. Then we saw a large  white bird flying towards us.  At first  I thought  it was a Barn Owl,  but as it got nearer I could see it was a Little Egret. It did look lovely against the darkening sky.

46. great spotted woodpecker
47. little egret

Hythe

Monday 15th January 2007


oystercatcher

We were free this afternoon so went down to Hythe Marina. There were a couple of birders there, looking through scopes. One of them spotted a Red Throated Diver beside a green buoy. I looked towards the green buoy and yes I did see what looked to be a diver, but to be honest I couldn't really identify it myself so I won't be adding it to my list. Pity I don't have a scope though!

Then we saw our first tern of the year - a sandwich tern, just great, I love terns. There were lots of gulls down by the pier but I am hopeless with gulls and could only pick out a herring gull and a great black backed gull and black headed and a redshank.

At the marsh were curlews and oystercatchers and more gulls and on the grassy area beside the carpark we saw a pair of bullfinches.

We met a nice birder from Liverpool and were chatting about birds and Liverpool and somehow the conversation ended up being about the Isle of Man. I worked there one summer many many moons ago! I was 19 and worked in the Compton Hotel, Central Promenade, Douglas.   It was hard work, with only one evening off a week, but my friends and I had great fun. My brother goes over now and again  for the famous Isle of Man TT races.   But I haven't been back there since that summer.   I must try and get over again   one day.

40. sandwich tern
41. herring gull
42. great black-backed gull
43. oystercatcher
44. bullfinch
45. redshank

Blackwater Arboretum

Sunday 14th January 2007


Hawfinch

We stopped at Holm Hill in the New Forest and had a look for the Great Grey Shrike seen in the area the day before. Didn't get very far as the ground was waterlogged and we didn't have any wellies with us. We did see a Red Admiral butterfly and a bumblebee.

Went down the road to Blackwater Arboretum and saw another couple of Red Admirals also 3 goldcrests a wren and a coal tit plus lots of robins. Blackwater Arboretum is one of the best places in the UK to see Hawfinches, we saw 14 of them while we were there.

36. goldcrest
37. wren
38. coal tit
39. hawfinch

Eyeworth Pond and Blashford Lakes

Saturday 13th January 2007


pheasant on feeder at blashford

We were on our way to Blashford Lakes and decided to call at Eyeworth Pond on the way. There are Mandarin ducks on the pond most of the time,  but we didn't see them today. We did see a pair of Goosanders so another tick.

28. goosander

I do love Blashford Lakes. There are three bird hides.   Two overlooking the lakes and one in the wood. The wood is what I really come here for, as it is full to bursting with little birds. I can spend an hour or two just walking in the woods, listening to the birds.   It really is a magical place. In the summer it is full of dragonflies and damselflies.

I had hoped to see the Great White Egret but we missed it today. We did see lots of little birds and for the list we had

29. long-tailed tit
30. goldfinch
31. greenfinch
32. pheasant
33. heron
34. kestrel (Ibsley Bridge)
35. greylag (Ibsley Water)

Hythe Marina

Sunday 7th January 2007

The weather was abysmal yesterday so instead of going birding we went into Southampton and bought a new pair of binoculars, Optricon 8x42. They are mainly for my husband as he is really getting into this birding lark now! I am hoping for a new pair of bins myself but I haven't found a pair I really like yet.

The first thing I noticed this morning was a Red Admiral butterfly outside my kitchen window. Then as I walked down the front path I noticed my wild geraniums were flowering.   I have never seen them in flower in January before!

Today we went looking for the Great Northern Divers on Southampton Water again, only this time we were at Hythe Marina. It was bitterly cold, not the kind of day to be hanging around. The nice thing about Southampton Water is that even if you don't see any interesting birds there is always something else to look at. Two cruise ships were in dock and the Red Funnel Ferries were coming and going to the Isle of Wight.

There is also a ferry from Hythe to Southampton and a little train takes you down Hythe pier to the ferry. I have always enjoyed my trips on the Hythe ferry especially on summer mornings.


the pier train for the Hythe - Southampton ferry

We were at the Marina for quite some time but apart from a Great Crested Grebe we hadn't noticed anything else.   We  were just about to call it a day when a razorbill popped up about two feet from where I was standing! What a good result. I have seen razorbills off Durlston in Dorset but this was a first for me in Hampshire! I was absolutely delighted and even managed to get a photo of it before it went back underwater again. That was it, I was freezing cold and happy to call it a day. Time to go home and light the fire!

27.razorbill

Weston Shore

Tuesday 2nd January 2007

This afternoon we popped over to Weston Shore on Southampton Water on the off chance we might see a Great Northern Diver, but alas no such luck. I'm not familiar with this side of Southampton Water and to be honest I prefer it over the opposite side in Hythe but it was a nice change. My husbands parents used to bring him here as a young boy, so it brought back some nice family memories for him. We went for a walk and saw our first curlew and brent geese of the year.

24. curlew
25. brent goose
26. feral pigeon

New Year Birding - 2007

New Forest and Blashford Lakes


sturt pond, milford-on-sea

It's  2007 and I've  decided to keep a blog this year to record my birding trips. I live in Hampshire UK and the Hampshire Coast, the New Forest and Blashford Lakes are my main birding areas.

It all began  last May.   A very good friend of mine died suddenly, and I was in shock and depressed. After her funeral my husband and I  went down to Milford on Sea.    I always feel better by the sea.    We  walked along the beach and then  sat down beside  the pond.    I was watching the swans when my attention was drawn to a gull-like bird, plunge-diving into the pond. I had never seen anything like it before and I was totally captivated. I had no idea what the bird was, so when I got home I looked through an old bird book and found  it was a Common Tern.   A  couple of days later we went back to the pond  and saw it again.   And that was it....... the start of my birding days.

January 1st 2007

I'm not what you'd call a morning person, but after a very late night I didn't have any problem getting up before 6am, so not a bad start to my New Year.

I headed down to the kitchen and put the kettle on as I was gasping for a cuppa. I remember seeing some birds flying past  the kitchen window.   But I was still a wee bit tired after the late night, so I  didn't pay much attention to them.

An hour or so later my husband and I were heading to the New Forest to look for the Great Grey Shrike that had been seen near Burley.

We searched the area quite extensively but no sign of the shrike. I had started taking a note of other birds seen since we left the house.

1. magpie
2. robin
3. starling
4. blackbird


I'm sure you can see by the list above I am not that good at identifying birds!

We eventually  gave up on the shrike and headed to one of my favourite places - Blashford Lakes near Ringwood. Apart from the lakes there is a beautiful little wood full of finches, tits, nuthatch, woodpeckers and treecreeper.

5. great tit
6. blue tit
7. nuthatch
8. chaffinch
9. tufted duck
10. coot
11. mallard
12. great crested grebe
13. cormorant

Then it was down the road to Ibsley Bridge to look for some Bewicks Swans.  I heard there were  a couple of them in the area,  and as I had never seen them before I was hoping to get a result.....and I did. I also noticed a buzzard  some stonechats, canada geese, mute swans pied wagtail, and a black headed gull.

14. bewicks swan
15. buzzard
16. stonechat
17. canada goose
18. mute swans
19. pied wagtail
20. black headed gull
21. carrion crow
22. wood pigeon
23. house sparrow