Blue-Eyed Boy......

Saturday 23rd February 2008

As weekends go, this one was very enjoyable, and for a change it wasn't anything to do with birds!!

The reason I was enjoying myself so much, was because my nephew and his partner were down from Yorkshire. It was great to see them both again, and it also meant I got to meet my great-nephew Matthew, for the first time :-) . Matthew is almost six months old, absolutely gorgeous and is the best behaved little baby we have ever known.





Sunday 24th February 2008

On Sunday afternoon we went for a walk at Farlington Marshes, and managed to find another five birds for the year list. The only photo I took today, was of Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth (taken in Gosport) - well, you couldn't not notice it.......


Spinnaker Tower - Soaring 170 metres (557 feet) into the sky.....

102. grey plover
103. whimbrel
104. avocet
105. snipe
106. lesser black-backed gull

New Forest and Sowley Pond...

Saturday 16th February 2008

It was back to the New Forest on Saturday, for a walk in the Arboretum. Weather wise, it was blue skies and sunshine but freezing cold, which is probably why the Arboretum was very quiet.

On the bird front, Robins and Blackbirds were the main attraction, plus a couple of Coal tits and a small group of Redwings (ten or so) in the middle of the woods.


New Forest Pony

After our walk, we went up the road to the Crab Tree Earth/Holm Hill area, on the off chance there might be a Shrike. But no, nothing doing, it was very quiet there too.

The best find of the day was a Roe deer (I think it’s a Roe), who at one point walked within ten feet of me, knew I was there and carried on regardless.....


New Forest Deer


Sunday 17th February 2008

On Sunday afternoon we went to Sowley Pond to see the Long-tailed duck. Also on the pond were Pochard, Tufted ducks, Great Crested Grebes, Grey Herons, Little Egrets, Mallards and a Kingfisher.

101. Long-tailed duck

Friday By The Sea.......

Friday 15th February 2008

I spent the afternoon by the sea at Calshot today. It was nice and quiet with just the odd windsurfer, walker and of course the birds...



It wasn't a bird watching trip as such, but I did have my binos with me, so I made sure I didn't miss anything!!


ringed plover

Birds of note were, brent geese, wigeon, teal, oystercatchers, curlews, meadow pipits, shelducks, pied wagtail, turnstones and ringed plover. Plus lots of gulls. Maybe even some med gulls, but like I've said before, I'm hopeless at identifying gulls, especially in winter plumage.


beach huts at Calshot

100. ringed plover

Three Counties Birding.......

Sunday 10th February 2008

I had the most fantastic day today, birding in three counties - Hampshire, Wiltshire and Berkshire. Saw lots of birds and have four birds for the year list (two lifers). Also saw some sheep, ponies, race horses, fallow deer, the cutest little donkey, butterflies, lots of spring flowers and beautiful blue skies and sunshine again......



In Hampshire we had two birds for the list, a Green Woodpecker and a Mandarin Duck.

In Wiltshire a Red Kite (lifer).

And in Berkshire we saw two Short-Eared Owls (another lifer), on Cow Down. That was the highlight of the day. What a fantastic place to go and with the scope we had excellent views of the owls. It was about 3.30pm when we arrived, and noticed the two owls flying together. We watched them for ages and at one point they were being mobbed by some crows. Absolutely stunning birds, I can’t wait to go back there again ....probably next week.......I might see if I can get my old compact digital working.


a not so good pic of a short-eared owl....

On top of all that, the ice-cream man is back at Bolderwood, which makes me very happy indeed :-) .

96. green woodpecker
97. mandarin duck
98. red kite
99. short-eared owl

Lapland Bunting.......

Saturday 9th February 2008

Well, it was like this.....................

We were in Milford-on-Sea, standing outside a very large field of maize stubble, with the possibility of a Lapland bunting (a Hampshire rarity), somewhere??.... in that very large field of stubble!! Not a job for the faint hearted!



Lucky for us, the little bunting chose our side of the field to feed in, but just not close enough for a decent photo.

While we were there, we met a birder from Portsmouth who was digiscoping and he had some excellent results. He didn’t even have any attachments to his scope. I think that’s what we’ll have to do, buy a compact digital and just hand hold it to the scope.



Apart from the Lapland bunting we saw six Bewick’s swans on the grass at Harbridge this morning, so two more birds for the year list - the Lapland bunting being a Lifer for me :-) .

By the way, gorgeous weather here in Hampshire today and set to continue for a couple more days, so hopefully I’ll get to see some more birds...... Goshawks or Short-eared Owls would be nice......

94. bewick's swan
95. lapland bunting

New Moon....

Thursday 7th February 2008

I believe we have a New Moon today, a time for new beginnings.......

Yesterday was nice and sunny and I noticed lots of butterflies, bees and birdsong all over the place. The male Blackcap was singing from the top of the apple tree in our back garden. I'd love to get a photo of him but he only stays a minute or two and then he's off again.


no bird photos so it will have to be bears instead....

I have another bird for the year list - a Goldeneye - we saw nine of them at Blashford on Sunday. I also noticed the last of the new hides is open, so I had to check it out. I'm pleased I did as a Peregrine was sitting on the shingle outside. No doubt it will be a very popular hide, as you can park outside it. Perfect for anyone who has difficulty walking.........

93. goldeneye

A Walk In The Woods.........

Saturday 2nd February 2008

nuthatch

We took a run up to Eyeworth pond this morning and what a beautiful morning it was. Lots of sunshine and a beautiful blue sky........just the ticket for a cold February day.


marsh tit

On the bird front - no mandarin ducks on the pond, but a good variety of woodland birds including a couple of marsh tits.


great tit


blue tit

Oh, and Congratulations to 'B' and Sparky - Love to both of you XX

92. marsh tit