Archive News and Pictures - Hampshire New Year Birding - to 31^st January 2009

2^nd January. My first birding of the year started down in Hampshire at Keyhaven. After a few months of itchy feet, wanting to head down, I finally managed to catch up with the Red-Breasted Goose close to the car park at Keyhaven. The bird was feeding close into shore in amongst the sizeable Brent Goose flock. The bird was actually quite difficult to pick out from the Brents with the overcast skies, but once located it showed well and allowed me to get some decent pictures. Whilst watching it I met with another birder Andy, and we proceeded to walk around most of the Keyhaven and Pennington area. As we walked on we finally managed to locate me an obliging Snipe which stood still long enough for me to get the scope on it and get some pretty decent digiscoped shots. Moving past the Fishtail lagoon and looking out over the Solent the water was surprisingly quiet, with few ducks or grebes to be seen. A Grey Plover showed well briefly on a sandy spit and a few Red-Breasted Merganser and Goldeneye could be seen further out. A single Black-Ncked Grebe was spotted distantly and identified by Andy. After seeing our third and fourth Kingfishers and heading back for towards the car park, we eventually came across the four Spotted Redshank which showed nicely for us both. After the Spotshanks, we headed away from the coast and wandered past a flooded field containing good numbers of winter ducks and also more Snipe which this time were in SLR range and finally broke my duck on getting a decent image of a Snipe.

3^rd January. I had a few targets lined up at different ends of the county which in retrospect was a little silly but sitting on 199 species, gave me some urgency to make it to 200. My first point of call was at Bordon in North East Hampshire to see yet another scarce duck at Passfield Pool. Getting out of the car into a beautiful frosty scene with the temperature hovering around -4°C the world was a wonderful place with the world full of splendour and soon enough I managed to locate the first winter drake Ring-Necked Duck in amongst the Tufted Duck and Pochard raft. The bird initially looked as if it was roosting but did wake up enough for me to fire off a load of shots and even get a few comparison shots with a drake Tufted Duck. Feeling content after getting some nice images and finally notching up 200 photo species for the website, I headed off back West and to Blashford Lakes. On arrival I spotted the Bittern on Ivy Lake and then headed off in search of the Great White Egret. As usual with my visits there a thorough search turned up no big white birds other than Mute Swans, although several Black-Necked Grebes, Kingfisher, Lesser Redpoll, Siskin, Nuthatch and a flyover Sparrowhawk were good sightings. After finally giving up on the Egret I decided to finally bite the bullet and head down to Weymouth to see this "Is it or isn't it?" Hooded Merganser at Radipole Lake. It showed ridiculously well, feeding in amongst the genuine plastic ducks right next to the visitor centre. Anyway, I went, I saw, I photographed and I added it to the list. I'll leave the powers that be to decide but it is a cracking looking bird, in good health and as far as I'm concerned, I'm having it!!!

4^th January. I woke up expecting clear skies and a hard frost but was actually dismayed to see grey skies and a temperature of -1°C. As a glutton for punishment the car headed back to Blashford Lakes for my eighth attempt at seeing the Egret. I arrived at the same time as the warden and after chatting to him and finding out that the bird often fed near the path between Rockford and Ivy lakes first thing, immediately set off to see if I could catch the bird before it was disturbed by the regular anglers. The lake edges were mostly frozen and as I should have expected there was no sign of it at its usual haunt. I then thought I'd try a few more lakes and after peering at one by the sailing club, poked my nose over the hedge to look at Roach Pit. Amazingly enough there was the Great White Egret feeding along the shore of the Snails Lake. I grabbed a few record shots in the poor light and tried to manoeuvre into a better position along Ivy Lane. As I looked again, a Grey Heron flew in and flushed the Egret further away down the bank. This forced me to walk down the path between the sailing club and Snails lake but by the time I arrived at the viewing platform the bird had been flushed by the first of the mornings anglers! Thinking the bird had gone I headed back towards the visitor centre but relocated the bird on Rockford Lake showing better than it had previously. I obtained a few more images but the bird appeared jumpy and as I moved down the path through the wooded section, having lost sight of me the bird flew off again. I had a quick scout around the inner hides but with poor light conditions decided to head back to the coast and try my luck with a few waders at Keyhaven. Once there I noticed a chap taking pictures along the channel so headed off to see what he was snapping. A nice Kingfisher was hunting along the banks and was posing well with nice little splashes every now and again as he dived for food. Also along the channel was a female Reed Bunting, a Little Egret and a wonderful Greenshank which gave frame filling views as it searched for food. I wandered back to the car, intending to walk around Keyhaven but didn't get out again as the rising tide and the vantage point of the car gave me great views of the shore birds. I tried out my Christmas present of a photographic bean bag for the car which allowed me to comfortably use slower shutter speeds in the grey light. I managed to get nice shots of Brent Goose, Dunlin, Knot and Grey Plover, the latter of which came to around 10 meters away! There were also plenty of Turnstone, Wigeon and I kept my eye out for the Red-Breasted Goose but after not seeing it on the estuary, dipped in on it as it fed on the fields inland from Keyhaven.

10^th January. Back to local birding and grey winter skies so definitely an ISO 800 day! I only nipped out for an hour but it was enough to improve on my pictures of Greater Scaup of which there were 5 in a small raft of ducks in Cardiff Bay near the Norwegian church. There were 2 adult drakes, an immature drake and 2 females amongst the Tufted Ducks and Coot and there were also a few Goosander much further out but no sign of the Lesser Scaup which had relocated to the Bay from Cosmeston. A quick dash to the wetlands reserve to check if anything else was around gained me a new behaviour observation. Both a Robin and a Grey Wagtail were feeding on the moving broken ice! It was really odd to see two familiar passerines basically standing on the water looking for food but drifting in opposite directions! Other than a few Teal and the usual suspects I decided on heading home as the light dwindled.

11^th January. Another ISO 800 day! A family trip for a short walk around Cosmeston to get some fresh air. We all saw the Bearded Tit from the boardwalk which was busily feeding on the reed heads but carried on to the lakes to see if there was anything of interest. It was fairly quiet birdwise with the highpoint being a small flock of Teal roosting on the frozen west lake. It was good for gull spotting too with the birds sitting on the ice giving good views of their legs! After a short stroll we headed back to the car and off to Sully to see if the Glamorgan sightings page could help! Of course it did with a lovely little flock of 8 Waxwings feeding on berries on Weston Avenue. We sat in the car, using the bean bag as support and got some lovely pictures as they guzzled down the berries. It's great to see Glamorgan Waxwings again after 4 years!

14^th January. Common sense went out the window today as I was itching to use some time off for some long distance birding. The alarm went off at 4:30 and I was on the foggy road before 5, arriving at a very murky Rainham Marshes just after 8. I managed to get into the reserve before it opened with the help of the warden and headed off in search of some of the reported goodies. I did a complete lap of the reserve in a couple of hours seeing very little due to the poor visibility, the highpoints being a Cetti's Warbler, Peregrine, flyover Ring-Necked Parakeets and several flushed Snipe. I then set off again and set myself up on the boardwalk between the two viewpoints to hopefully encounter two rare visitors. A group of birders lead by the warden turned up and after a shout went out there were 35 of us looking into the reeds at a pair of Penduline Tits. They were quite happily feeding on the bulrushes, picking seeds and shredding the reed heads as they went and seemed oblivious to the massed optics pointed at them. They mostly showed well for an hour and a half, sometimes coming within 20 feet and allowing a few frame fillers and of course some great views. The faint Reed Bunting'esque whistling contact call could be heard quite often especially as the birds moved to a new patch of bulrushes. As the light improved the birds finally flew off strongly towards an inaccessible area of marsh and more patience went unrewarded. Still happy with my lot I headed back around the reserve, seeing a Water Rail, nice views of Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting. I had a quick scan for the reported Serin near the feeders but there were only scores of Goldfinch present. I intended to stop off at Wraysbury on the way home but the fog dropped down again as I drove around the M25 so headed back home, very tired but happy!

18^th January. Time and weather restrictions limited me to just a single hour of birding over the weekend. Having noticed a few nice Thrushes in the park on a breezy family walk the day before, I nipped out between the showers on Sunday morning to our local park to grab a few shots. In between the scores of dog walkers scaring off the birds, I managed to get some nice views of some of the two dozen or so Redwings feeding on the sodden ground. A Mistle Thrush also joined them briefly and I even devoted some camera time to a Wood Pigeon sitting lazily in a conifer! I also tried to get some shots of a busy Goldcrest but the combination of dappled light, swaying branches and a fast tiny bird proved too challenging! There we go - last weeks twitch nullified with some common birds again!

21^st January. A quick visit to Slimbridge before work unfortunately didn't result in an appearance of the drake Green-Winged Teal which had been seen over the previous two days. Actually it wasn't the most rewarding trip there with only some frosty Pheasant pictures and a brief view of a Water Rail under the feeders in difficult glary light. I did see a Buzzard take an unfortunate Lapwing from the Holden Tower and had a nice view of a pair of Pintail before I left but no sign of the White-Fronts or 6 reported Bean Geese while I was there.

24^th January. With a good weather forecast I headed off to the Forest of Dean with a few targets in mind. I headed to New Fancy View hoping to catch up with a Willow Tit and a Hawfinch again. I got there just after dawn to find viewing access to the feeding station already blocked by other birders doing likewise so headed off to Cannop Ponds to see what I could find there. On the first pond there were some 40 Goosander amongst the usual Mallards and a pair of Tufted Duck. I tried a very low level angle, lying on the frozen ground beside the lake and got a reasonable shot of a Red-headed bird considering the poor light and slow shutter speed. I then sat in the car for a while, using the bean bag to take shots at the feeding station and got some reasonable shots of Reed Bunting, Treecreeper, Nuthatch and a brief shot of a Great Spotted Woodpecker. All the other usual suspects were there with Chaffinch, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-Tailed Tits abundant but only one brief glimpse of a single Marsh/Willow Tit which remained silent, elusive and unidentified! A few Jays kept their distance whilst Pied and even a Grey Wagtail fed occasionally below the feeders. I then wandered to the second pond to see the Mandarin of which there were around 40. I also saw a single female Bullfinch that seemed to be collecting twigs but only managed a record shot. I headed to Speech House and had a wander around the Arboretum there, just missing a beautifully perched Buzzard and finally headed back to New Fancy View where I sat for a few hours, eventually snapping both male and female Brambling and a further Nuthatch. A helicopter spooked the birds at one stage and a couple in the adjacent car informed me that a male Hawfinch had been working its way down to the feeding station! Needless to say we didn't see it in the hour after that!

25^th January. A flying visit to Swansea to coincide some birding with the weekly Sainsbury's shop. Not the usual grocery location but with a little internet knowledge, definitely worth the trip. A first winter Iceland Gull showed superbly near the bridge just down from the car park and allowed both settled and flight shots as it fed happily on the Tawe. It was great to find such an easy bird to see as I feared my first "White-Winged" gull view might be a small speck on a reservoir somewhere! I also fired off some photos of some of the Common Gulls, mixed with the Black-Headed Gulls and a lone Greater Black-backed Gull. A quick whizz round the supermarket for the weekly shopping and then back home - very content and brownie points still intact!