Archive News and Pictures - Glocs and Hampshire - to 31^st August 2008

22^nd August. With reports of a few nice birds around, I decided to get up early and try and get myself a new lifer. I first headed over to Coombe Hill Meadows where a Stilt Sandpiper had been seen over the past few days. After getting there for 7:30 and spending a pleasant few hours chatting to the birders there, it hadn't shown up and I later discovered that the bird was not re-located. I wasn't disappointed as there was a beautiful Wood Sandpiper in digiscope range from the Grundon Hide. I then headed down to Frampton-on-Severn where another potential lifer had been reported. This time a success with nice scope views of a Red-Necked Phalarope which showed well despite the distance when it appeared from behind the tussock grass. Three fly-by Hobbies gave nice views as I left. I briefly popped into Slimbridge where the only bird of note was a single Ruff on the South Lake.

23^rd August. Another trip down to Hampshire and of course the opportunity to head to the wonderful birding at Pennington Marshes. I was very excited as another potential lifer has been reported on the Fishtail Lagoon so waking to find a perfect morning, I headed down to Keyhaven and briskly walked to the lagoon. Sure enough, feeding on the eastern edge of the lagoon was a Grey Phalarope. Two Phalaropes in 24 hours and 2 new life species! It showed very well, as close as 50 feet at one point, before eventually taking up station around 100 yards away but still in view. A cracking little bird which really made my day! Just out to sea, two eclipse plumage Eider gave me another species photo tick and pushed my count up to 170! Several other nice things to report with a few pics of Turnstone near the car park, a Little Egret came and showed me its yellow feet, a Linnet posed nicely in the sun and I grabbed a few flight shots of Canada Geese and a single male Peregrine Falcon. A family walk to the beach at Milford-on-Sea in the afternoon produced several winter plumage Sandwich Tern feeding close inshore over the Solent.

25^th August. Bank Holiday Monday and the guaranteed wet and windy weather came as usual! What a British summer. Anyway, I headed back to Keyhaven and hoped for another view of the Grey Phalarope. When I arrived at the Fishtail lagoon the bird wasn't showing too well with it being distant and mostly lurking in the reeds. I headed off with the strong wind at my back and took a few more shots of some dark Eider bobbing up and down on the choppy sea. A single Cormorant also battled amongst the waves. Walking round the far end of the reserve was more a fitness test than a birding expedition what with battling the elements, carrying the "equipment" and trying to dodge the showers. Only a few Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher and Dunlin flying round the coastline with a few Redshank, Greenshank, Curlew and Black-Tailed Godwits sheltering from the worst of the weather on the pools kept me company. After completing "the far loop" around both Pennington and Oxey lagoons and getting back to the coastal path, a single bedraggled looking Grey Heron was sat on the bank of the Pennington lagoon. The local pair of Spoonbill had arrived on Butts lagoon and gave some lovely views as they fed and "billed" together, surely one of the next species to colonise the U. K. Heading back towards the Fishtail lagoon, some fellow birders were watching the Grey Phalarope on Butts lagoon. After watching it for a minute or so, it flew off passing reasonably close to me, allowing me a couple of murky flight shots, and then alighted on the estuary adjacent to Fishtail and Butts lagoon. I managed to walk closer to the birds location and lay on the grass getting views of the bird at a range of around 25 feet allowing some good shots and great views in awkward light. Happy with my latest Phalarope encounter, I headed back to the car park and after passing the Keyhaven lagoon, I had a great view of a Greenshank in flight but with the rain in my face, pictures were out of the question. Battling the wind back to the car park, I noticed a small flock of Ringed Plover and Dunlin with one larger wader in amongst them. Luckily for me, it was a summer plumage Grey Plover which hung around long enough for me to get a few pictures, bumping my species total for the website up to 171!

26^th August. I went chasing after one of my rarer bogey birds today so I hopped in the car and drove to Blashford Lakes to hopefully find the Great White Egret that had been there for the past week. Of course I didn't manage to see it, as did no one else that I talked to over the 5 hours I was there but I did see a few nice things over my time there. Again the weather was dull so the light quality was dismal at best but a posing Kingfisher on Ivy Lake was a good start after my first Egret hunt had come up blank. After a lap of the lakes near the visitor centre, I headed to the Tern Hide where a Common Tern perched nice and close to the hide while a Cormorant fished fairly close in. With little else to see apart from the usual Great Crested Grebes, a single Stock Dove and a constant supply of Woodpigeons all inexplicably flying from right to left, I headed back to the Ivy Lake and Rockford Lake to continue my search. Back at the screen where I'd earlier seen the Kingfisher, several eclipse Gadwall swam close in, while a large flock of Long Tailed Tit gave excellent views close in the bushes. After being mocked as usual my Green Woodpecker, I managed to exact a small piece of revenge with a reasonable shot of a young bird but still not one to be too happy with! I then returned back to the Tern Hide where the only thing of note was a young Little Grebe which swam nice and close to the hide. I'd been hoping for a Black Tern as they had also been reported regularly there over the past week but no luck I'm afraid. Just before I went I took the car down Ivy Lane and "twitched" the Egyptian Geese which I'd seen distantly on Rockford Lake earlier. Another species anyway! Later that afternoon, we headed down to Keyhaven again for a quick stroll around. On the way to the Fishtail, a Sparrowhawk flashed past and I managed yet another dodgy flight shot before it disappeared into the bushes. The Phalarope had left so carrying on a molting Grey Plover gave reasonable views on Pennington Lagoon while the Spoonbill continued to hold residence on Butts Lagoon. After turning back towards the car, a gorgeous young Wheatear gave a nice view by the jetty amongst the Pied Wagtails and Turnstones. Two late Swifts battled the elements alongside a few dozen Hirundines busy feeding for their migration. I then noticed a slightly odd looking Tern feeding off shore so took a few record shots into the murk. On getting back home I had a closer look and realised that I'd managed to snap a juvenile Black Tern! Shame about the light and picture quality but a nice unexpected UK tick for me!

27^th August. Yet another grey day and another morning visit to Keyhaven. After walking out past the Fishtail lagoon and seeing flocks of around 40 Grey Plover and 20 Eider, I was hoping to bump into the Black Tern again and sure enough, after walking to the jetty between Pennington and Butts Lagoon I managed to locate one bird feeding amongst several Common and Sandwich Terns. The bird fed for around 15 minutes before alighting on one of the stakes near the jetty allowing a perched shot. After meeting up with some fellow birders and locating the Spoonbill again, which gave some good flight pictures, I headed back towards the car park, getting some more decent shots of both the Black Tern and Sandwich Tern in flight. A Grey Plover again showed reasonably well on Pennington Lagoon and probably the same Wheatear as the previous evening performed along the sea wall. Later that afternoon, I found myself over at Ringwood so popped into Blashford Lakes again and another hopeful but fruitless search for the Great White Egret. A Hobby showed well over the car park but little else was around. On walking up to the Lapwing Hide I did see a nice Painted Lady butterfly which was a new one for the year. Along with a distant Kingfisher on Mockbeggar Lake, a Buzzard posed nicely whilst being mobbed by three Grey Herons.

28^th August. Surprise surprise! It was a grey cloudy day again but undeterred, I headed off to Titchfield Haven where two Roseate Terns had been reported the previous evening. After meeting with several friendly birders I walked around the reserve, spotting another, or maybe even the same, Grey Phalarope as had been seen at Keyhaven a few days ago. It showed reasonably well but not a patch on the shots I managed to obtain before. From the Pumfrett Hide a nice Green Sandpiper showed well and also a Snipe broke cover long enough to get a few better shots than I had previously. Suddenly all the birds were spooked as an Osprey flew over the reserve, only allowing silhouetted shots against the grey skies. After a nice lunch in the visitor centre, we headed up to the Knights Bank Hide where we relocated the Osprey on a post around 300 yards away feeding for over 15 minutes on a freshly caught fish. The views through the scope were wonderful which transposed into reasonable digiscope shots considering the distance involved. Back at the shoreline, several birders assembled to try and find the Roseates but after a good search of the shore and the Solent beyond we came up empty handed only finding a few Sandwich amongst the several hundred Commons. Never mind eh!

29^th August. At least the wind had dropped today even if the cloud blanket still remained! Just a jaunt round Pennington Marshes this morning which was a little quiet. I did spot two nice Whimbrel 5 minutes from the car park at Keyhaven and also spotted several flocks of a dozen or so Curlew flying during the morning. My first photo keepers of the day came at Oxey Lagoon where half a dozen Black Tailed Godwit allowed me to get relatively close views of both summer and winter plumaged birds. Further east along Oxey lagoon was one of the Spoonbill pair which was feeding nice and close and gave some wonderful views. After taking a few shots of a residing Little Egret perched in a tree, I met up with a fellow birder I'd met a few days earlier and we then wandered round the reserve for a few hours chasing Yellow Wagtails, of which we got a maximum count of eighteen birds. They were extremely flighty and difficult to get close to but with so many individuals I eventually managed to get a few reasonable efforts. A Small Blue butterfly interupted the birding for a few minutes before heading back down the path towards the Fishtail Lagoon. We relocated both the Spoonbills on Butts Lagoon and watched the dozen or so Eider lazing on the calm Solent waters. Flocks of Goldfinch, Linnet and another nice Wheatear kept me company on the walk back to the car park. Another two Swift over Milford-on-Sea later that day need to get a move on and head south!

30^th August. Staggeringly enough it was a sunny morning on peeking around the curtains at 6:30 so I headed off to Stanpit Marshes near Christchurch. There were plenty of waders around on the rising tide but difficult to id straight into the sun. Two Kingfishers, 3 Wheatear, 2 Common Sandpiper and 2 Peregrine Falcon were the highlights of my quick walk around the reserve and I'll certainly be paying a return visit there. After that I had a few hours so headed over the other side of the estuary to Hengistbury Head and met several of the Christchurch Harbour Ornithological Group. Many passerines had been reported migrating through over the past few days so we watched one of the hotspot fields for a while but with nothing more exciting than a few dozen Blackcap and Philoscs. I'd hope to catch a Redstart or something similar but it was all made worthwhile with a superb encounter with a Kestrel. The bird flew over my left shoulder and plunged into some deep grass, catching a cricket, and then proceeded to eat it on a post no further than 30 feet away. I managed to get clear air between the camera and the bird and got some wonderful views. Another 3 late Swifts over Milford-on-Sea were the last birds of note for a busy week.

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