Merlin......

Wednesday 30th January 2008

Managed a few hours at Keyhaven on Sunday, our first trip there this year. We walked from Keyhaven to just past the jetty at Pennington, and back via the inland road.


lapwing

There were lots of birds.......including a Kingfisher, Dartford Warbler and some Spotted Redshanks. The highlight for me was a Merlin, sitting in a dead tree near the jetty, where the Peregrine usually sits.


stonechat

All in all we saw forty four species, and have five new birds for the year list...

87. reed bunting
88. dartford warbler
89. merlin
90. red-breasted merganser
91. spotted redshank

Bramblings........

Saturday 26th January 2008

We were back at Cheesefoot Head this morning, in search of some Brambling. Lucky for us we bumped into Hampshire birder Simon Woolley, who pointed us in the right direction. Come to think of it, I had only heard of Cheesefoot Head because of Simon's booklet, Birding By Bike..... in which he spent a year birding Hampshire by bicycle. I can recommend the booklet, which is sold in aid of tsunami relief.



So there we were....... the sun was shining, a cold wind was blowing, but no ice on the ground like last time! Not another human in sight!! Just us and the birds....... Brambling, Chaffinches, Stonechats, a couple of Buzzards and some Skylarks.


goldfinches feeding on sunflower seed heads

There must have been two hundred or more Brambling, flitting between two patches of sunflower seed heads, such a joy to watch.

bramblings in flight.....

You know, standing here today, looking over the beautiful countryside and watching these wonderful birds.......... I'm pretty sure I could never tire of this..........

85. brambling
86. jackdaw

Hawfinches, Grey Wagtail and Common Sandpiper.....

Sunday 20th January 2008

Been a few places this weekend, but nothing as exciting as seeing that Eagle last Saturday!!


dunlin

The best birds this weekend were some hawfinches at Blackwater Arboretum and a common sandpiper and grey wagtail at Lower Test.

Sat 19/01/08

76. dunnock
77. hawfinch - Blackwater Arboretum

Sun 20/01/08

78. house sparrow - Lower Test
79. grey wagtail
80. common sandpiper
81. wren

82. oyster catcher - Hythe
83. dunlin
84. turnstone

Seeing is Believing......

Thursday 17th January 2008

I’ve been having a good time lately, thanks to my nephew coming to stay and my new computer arriving :-) . And of course there were the birds last Saturday morning..... now that was something special......

We went in search of the resident Little Owl in Hill Street, I've been looking for that owl for months, but I’ve never seen it. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to see it this time either, but we did see eleven redwings in a field at Hill Street and 30+ Fieldfares, further down the road, so I was more than happy with that.


Redwing

Then we decided to go up to Palestine near Grately, to look for some Brambling and Grey legged Partridges. As the passenger in the car, I got to do some birdwatching as we went along, but little did I know, just what I would see......

We were on the B3084 from Broughton to Over Wallop, when I saw a bird on a telegraph pole. I’m used to seeing Kestrels, Peregrines or Buzzards sitting on telegraph poles, but what I was seeing was no Kestrel, Peregrine or Buzzard. This was something I had never seen before....this was an Eagle!!

I couldn’t believe my eyes, how fantastic. I told Ian what I had seen and asked him to stop the car, but he totally ignored me and drove on!!!!!!! I was gutted......it’s not everyday I get to see an Eagle in Hampshire.


Kestrel

We crossed the A343 into Mount Carmel Road and Ian stopped the car. I was thinking of the Eagle and how I wished we had stopped to have a good look at it, but to be honest I don’t think Ian believed I had seen an Eagle.

Then we got out of the car and were looking at some Fieldfares in the fields, when a 4x4 vehicle stopped and the driver shouted over, “did you see the Eagle".

We walked over to his car to find out more. He said a Sea Eagle (otherwise known as a White tailed Eagle) had been in the area for a month or so. A young bird from Finland he said. That’s when the penny dropped. I remembered reading on BirdForum about a White-tailed Eagle in Hampshire, somewhere near Andover.

Now, looking at the map, I could see we weren’t a million miles from Shipton Bellinger, where the bird has been seen. And according to the man we were speaking to, the Eagle was also a regular in Grately, less than a mile away.


Grandfather's Beard

I guess fifteen minutes or so had gone by since I saw the Eagle, so we decided to forget the Brambling and head back to where the Eagle was, on the off chance it would still be there.

Five minutes later we were back at the spot, and there it was, still sitting on top of the pole. Unfortunately it flew off before I could take a pic.........

If anyone would like better details of where we saw it, then email me.......my email address is working again.

Eve.

70. fieldfare
71. redwing
72. treecreeper
73. kestrel
74. white-tailed eagle
75. pheasant

Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings.....

Sunday 6th January 2008

It was a beautiful January morning so we went in search of some Corn Buntings at Cheesefoot Head.

Cheesefoot Head is a high point on the chalk downlands two miles east of Winchester, a twenty minute drive from our house. Adjoining it is the spectacular Punchbowl – an impressive natural amphitheatre and the location for several crop circles during the 1980s. Not that I saw any of them myself, but I wish I had.



We parked in the car park and went across the road to the fields on the opposite side of the road. There was still some ice on the ground but the sun was out and the air was cold and fresh and it did feel good to be out and about. Unlike yesterday when we had to go into Southampton to do some shopping.... I didn't enjoy that at all. Needless to say, I only go there when I really have to.


yellowhammer

The first birds we noticed were Starlings, a couple of hundred of them flying together. Then some Yellowhammers came across the field and landed in the trees. I would say there were 30 of them, I've only ever seen the odd Yellowhammer, so thirty together in a tree was nice to see.

Next were two Meadow Pipits, some Chaffinches, two Skylarks, two Stonechats, two Ravens, but no Brambling....... not a single one. That did surprise me, as I know there have been Brambling in the area in the past few days.



Mind you, we hadn't seen any Corn Buntings either, and were back at the car taking off our coats when a flock of birds flew over and landed in a tree. We hoped they might be Corn Buntings, but couldn't see them clearly enough. Ian set the scope up and yes indeed.......Corn Buntings, 15 - 20 of them..... a new bird for me.

60. collared dove - garden

61. yellowhammer
62. meadow pipit
63. skylark
64. raven
65. corn bunting

Other birds seen between Ower and Totton.....

66. common buzzard
67. long tailed tit
68. carrion crow
69. lesser spotted woodpecker.

Blashford Lakes......

Friday 4th January 2008

On New Years Day the new hides at Blashford were so packed with people, we didn't get to see all the ducks etc., so we decided to go back for another look.

We were able to add few more birds to the year list.

54. blackcap - garden

55. green sandpiper
56. great black backed gull
57. herring gull
58. greylag
59. goosander

Bearded Tits at Farlington Marshes.....

Wednesday 2nd January 2008

We were in Chichester to-day, and on the way home we called at Farlington Marshes for a quick twenty minutes birding.

I must admit it wasn't the best weather for birdwatching, freezing cold, cloudy and windy, so I didn't bother taking the camera with me.

Because of the windy weather, I didn't think we would see any bearded tits, but what do I know?? Thanks to them being very vocal, we quickly located them in the middle section of the reedbeds. We only saw three this time, and not as good views as the other day, but they made my day........

44. moorhen
45. brent goose
46. teal duck
47. pintail duck
48. shelduck
49. curlew
50. redshank
51. black-tailed godwit
52. little egret
53. bearded tit

New Year Birding 2008.........

Tuesday 1st January 2008


New Year daffodils - seen in Fair Oak - Hampshire

I decided to go back to Blashford to-day, and after a few very enjoyable hours, I was able to add a Bittern, Black-necked Grebe, Great White Egret and Cattle Egret to my 2008 list......


Blashford fungi

Here is the list of all the birds I saw to-day, the first bird of my year was a goldfinch seen in my back garden.


1. goldfinch
2. blue tit
3. starling
4. magpie
5. rook
6. blackbird
7. mistle thrush
8. robin
9. stonechat
10. mute swan
11. cattle egret
12. bittern
13. coot
14. canada goose
15. grey heron
16. great tit
17. great spotted woodpecker
18. nuthatch
19. chaffinch
20. greenfinch
21. coal tit
22. song thrush


23. siskin

24. tufted duck
25. gadwall
26. wigeon
27. cormoront
28. great crested grebe
29. sparrowhawk
30. pochard
31. little grebe
32. black headed gull
33. ruddy duck
34. great white egret
35. kingfisher
36. peregrine
37. black necked grebe
38. mallard
39. shoveler
40. lapwing
41. feral pigeon
42. pied wagtail
43. wood pigeon

Happy New Year to you all........