8^th August. With July being a barren birding month I was hoping to actually manage to get out and do some birding in August. A window opened for the Saturday and I was on the road by 4:30 to get out in the field. I'd dabbled between heading to Portland or Farlington Marshes near Portsmouth to try and get a new species. I decided on Farlington as a first point of call with the bird being a more likely stayer and soon after arriving I managed to see the Spotted Crake through the scope on the Eastern edge of the lagoon, virtually straight into less the sun and no less than 200 yards away. It was clearly different from the also present Water Rails with a distinctly spotty appearance, smaller bill and its small size. After watching its frantic like feeding behaviour on and off for a few hours and realising that the bird was not going to come any closer to allow any form of photograph, especially as a fox had decided to laze in the early morning sunshine near to where it had been feeding, I decided that adding it to my UK list was going to be as good as it got. I'd enjoyed watching the Black-Tailed Godwit on the lagoon, along with ever increasing numbers of Redshank, and singles of Snipe and Greenshank. I headed West to Hill Head and Titchfield Haven for some tern watching. After a short drive I arrived at a Mediterranean like Hill Head, bathed in warm sunshine to find a rising tide. This was perfect for forcing the numerous terns and gulls on the foreshore ever closer and after a little searching, I managed to locate a single Little Tern and also a few molting Black Tern amongst the several hundred Common Terns. As the tide rose further a holidaying family walked out to where the birds were assembled and flushed them all. I managed to follow a Black Tern and grabbed a few flight shots before moving over to Titchfield Haven and watching the terns from there. The Common Terns were literally everywhere and picking out a Black one amongst them was a challenge but after getting my eye in, I managed to locate three individuals, one of which flew almost over my head! I finally caught sight of my first Wheatear of the year, along with three Avocets, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Black-Tailed Godwit and a lone Gadwall. I saw a few nice butterflies, failing to get a picture of a Small Skipper but seeing my first Gatekeeper of the year along with yet more Painted Lady, Small and Large Whites, and a few rapid Small Tortoiseshell. I then continued in the car back on the M27 and ground to a halt in the summer traffic getting more frustrated by the minute. After 10 miles of crawling onto the A31 I'd found myself near Ringwood so dived on to the back roads and headed towards Blashford Lakes. Bird wise it turned out to be very quiet indeed with no waders or terns visible on the lakes and the Woodland hide and centre feeders only providing one Siskin of note. To sum it up, on entering the Ivy Lake hide, I asked if much was about and the reply was, "One Moorhen and a molting Mallard!". Exiting the hide and looking under the corrugated iron sheets, I spotted a single shrew but was soon focused on leps, with my first Clouded Yellow of the year being the nicest find. It paired nicely with the Brimstone, I'd seen en route. I picked up some nice images of Gatekeeper, yet more Painted Lady, Small White, Small Blue & Brown Argus before heading back to the car. I decided that heading back to the A31 would be a waste of time so headed north to Salisbury and then cross country to head home. Checking the net when I arrived home, revealed that the Melodious Warbler at Portland hadn't been seen so at least the last decision had been a good one!