Hoopoe

Monday 30th April 2007

This morning I was hanging out some washing and heard a familiar sound, I looked up and there was my first swift of the year.

We were free this afternoon and thought we would have another try for the Hoopoe at Calshot.

After spending the winter looking for the Great Grey Shrike and never seeing it, I was surprised when after five minutes we had located the Hoopoe. Then as luck would have it a very nice man with a very nice scope turned up and we all had excellent views of it.


spot the Hoopoe!

Apparently the Hoopoe comes out of the wood from time to time and wanders into the gardens of the houses behind. As birds go I liked it alot.

Thanks to Craig for telling me about it!

Oh, and Congratulations to my niece L-J and her hubby Paul!

107. swift
108. hoopoe

In Search of the Calshot Hoopoe

Sunday 29th April 2007

After a tip-off from Craig Nash of Peregrine's Bird Blog we headed down to Calshot to look for the Hoopoe seen in the area.

On the walk from the beach huts to the Power Station we saw a Willow Warbler and were able to get some good photos of it.

Then we turned left and walked in front of the Power Station where we saw a Whitethroat, Blackcap and heard a Cuckoo. Didn't see the Hoopoe though and decided to call it a day.

I was so annoyed when I got home as for the first time ever I had a problem with my computer and somehow managed to loose todays photos :-(

104. willow warbler
105. whitethroat
106. blackcap

Swallows in Hoe Lane

Saturday 28th April 2007

It was another glorious sunny day so we went for a walk down Hoe Lane near Romsey to look at the wild flowers and maybe see a Wheatear or two.


foxglove

The wild flowers were in abundance but no sign of any Wheatears.

I spent ten minutes following an orange tip butterfly which eventually landed on some bluebells.


orange tip butterfly

There were lots of birds including skylarks, buzzards, a pair of lapwings, goldfinches, tits, a great spotted woodpecker and our first swallows of the year.


103. swallow

Cuckoo

Sunday 26th April 2007

We could only manage another brief trip out today and went to the wood opposite the New Forest Reptile Centre.

Didn't see anything out of the ordinary but did hear our first cuckoo of the year and at the same time a woodpecker was drumming, sacred sounds indeed! Also saw a speckled wood butterfly.


speckled wood butterfly

At the Reptile Centre they have The New Forest "Goshawk Nestcam" a joint venture by The RSPB, Forestry Commission and New Forest National Park Authority.

A camera has been installed over the nest of a breeding pair of Goshawks, over the next three months visitors to the New Forest Reptile Centre will be able to see live pictures from the nest on a large screen TV. The last I heard four eggs have been laid.

Tree Pipit

Saturday 25th April 2007

We managed a quick trip to Mark Ash Wood today in search of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers but we didn't see any of them. We did see two tree pipits in the pine wood opposite.

102. tree pipit

Bluebell Wood

Sunday 15th April 2007



We did our yearly pilgrimage to our favourite bluebell wood near Mottisfont today.
Not many birds about, we did hear a chiffchaff but couldn't locate it.
Flowers included bluebells, wood anemones, lesser celandine and early purple orchids.

Marsh Tit

Sunday 8th April 2007 - Happy Easter and Happy Birthday RGM!

Another glorious sunny day so we decided to go back to Milkham Enclosure in the New Forest for another look at the Crossbills.

We had a good walk through the Enclosure but the birds were few and far between and we didn't see any Crossbills this time :-(

We did notice a Buzzard flying overhead quite alot and thought this must be it's local patch.



It appeared again and as I was watching it, it put it wings down by it's sides and nose dived towards the ground and out of sight.

We walked along the stand of trees to an open heath area to see if we could get a glimpse of it and sure enough, there it was!

It must have gone down for some prey and just as we noticed it, it flew into a tree and then a few minutes later it flew across to another tree.

I've only ever seen Buzzards in the sky before so it was a treat watching it go down and then seeing it on the ground before it flew to the trees. I just wish we had a longer lens on the camera!

After all that excitement we went down to the Highland Water Inclosure and saw our first Marsh tits of the year.

101. marsh tit

Peregrine Falcons

Saturday 7th April 2007

We were down in Lymington this afternoon and walked along the seawall. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary but the weather was so good it was just nice to be out and about.

Yesterday the bird list was at 99 and I was speculating as to which bird we would see next! A Peregrine would be a good one to take us to 100, I thought......

Well, you can imagine how excited I felt when we were driving home through the New Forest and there on top of a dead tree was a Peregrine! Yes! a Peregrine!



I went straight into panic mode trying to get the camera from the back seat, not wanting to miss anything, so trying to get a good look through the binoculars at the same time!!

We were only 10 feet or so away from it but of course it flew off a few minutes later and luckily for us it only flew 20 feet or so further into the gorse.

We sat watching it for a few minutes and then it flew across the road and landed again. We couldn't believe our eyes when we noticed another one. How cool was that! Two Peregrines a few feet apart!

We tried to get a bit closer to them but the one we had been watching decided to fly off into the distance. The other one stayed put.

I took lots of photos but I knew we were too far away for them to be any good so I decided I had to get out of the car and try to get nearer.

It was all very exciting, I managed to get 20 feet or so closer and took some more photos before it flew off. Unfortunately the light wasn't great and I was still not close enough so the photos are pretty poor.

Still I can't complain, not one but two Peregrines, the list now at 100 and a beautiful sunset too! Happy birding everyone!


New Forest sunset

100. peregrine

Chiffchaff...Chiffchaff....Chiffchaff.......

Friday 6th April 2007

Easter Friday, blue sky and sunshine, just the perfect day for a walk in Keyhaven.

We were only out of the car two minutes when the birds started appearing. Blackbirds, robins, greenfinches, sparrows and gold finches all in the trees beside the carpark.

Walking down the inland path towards Pennington we heard a chiffchaff and eventually located it and took some photos, another bird for the list!


chiffchaff

We also heard/saw a couple of skylarks along the inland path and then walking across the field to the coast we saw three more on the grass.


skylark

The walk along the seawall back to Keyhaven produced some more birds for the list, black-tailed godwits, grey plovers and linnets.


black-tailed godwits and oystercatcher

On the way home we stopped at Tanners Lane and walking down to the beach we saw some beautiful wild primroses, violets and celandine and two more chiffchaffs by Sowley Pond.



96. chiffchaff
97. black-tailed godwit
98. grey plover
99. linnet