Chi shopping

Quick shopping visit to Chichester with Monday in mind.

Brilliantly clear blue, cloudless sky after the thick mist and maritime foghorns audible from home.

The cathedral tea room was perfect for outside breakfast and papers although the  (resident?) Herring Gulls are now getting very audacious with one just clipping my head; if I'd not been holding the bacon butty I'm pretty sure it would have been snatched and gobbled down  - the staff try chasing them off but they are persistent. If only the Peregrines could come to the rescue!!

The male Peg sat silently above the nest all the time.

The Yew trees at the front had the usual singing Goldcrest etc.

A male Orange-tip  flew through and a Buzzard was over the A27.

A gorgeous sunny spring day with just a light sea breeze. One Marsh Harrier was carrying sticks, which bodes well even if only a prospecting bird.

Five Water Voles were very active near Meadow Hide with this one being the nearest to photogenic. Just one Swallow was a 'sign of spring' although a heard only LRP went north.

The gulls seemed very nervous all day and this Sparrowhawk was one of a displaying pair, in this case unsurprisingly photobombed by a BHG.

Plenty of Speckled Woods but strangely little in the way of hovers (although Eristalis intricaria was nfg) and no beeflies today.

These two Oystercatchers were looking to increase the population.

And then the ditch near Darter's Dip was full of Roach.

QECP had six or more invisible, calling or singing Firecrests and a couple of Buzzards; first Comma of year. Lots of Beeflies, but still no Dotted!! Butser was dispiriting with only calling Chiffchaffs being an indication of spring. Four very high Buzzards and that was it!

Just this single Early Purple Orchid on the short route I took.

Later, at Farlington from the lake viewpoint just two Greenshanks, five Snipe two more Buzzards, three Reed Buntings and some brief distant pinging from invisible Beardies. The SEO had gone to ground an hour or two previously in Point Field, so I didn't bother to go round. Sadly,  the combination of road/industrial noise and some git smoking a cigar a few feet away made it pretty unbearable so I called it a day. One of those days to chuck in birding and take up Eddie Stobart spotting😆😆

A better day for weather although still chilly in areas of shade. The traffic at Chichester was typically cr#p and the first garage had all it pumps taped off so had to go elsewhere for fuel. After coffee, a stroll down to Westmead produced just a single mixed singing Willow Warbler, Epistrophe elegans of interest on the hover front, D-E Beeflies and nothing from the hide due to disturbance.

Caught up with Ads B for the first time in ages who pointed out a sluggish Grass Snake, then shown to Anna's migration group. At the hanger just Treecreeper, three Bullfinches and the first Common Whitethroat of the year keeping hidden; no raptors and no sight/sound of Garganey nor LRPs.

The path along Wiggenholt Church produced the first few of six or more male Orange tips and plenty of hovers but with no macro lens I ignored them pretty much. (Peacocks, Brimstones, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White).

Lunch with Pete and Ann was pretty disappointing and, despite, staff shortages, things are continuing to go downhill - I think packed lunches will be the order of the day from now on.

Back to Westmead and a nice chat with a couple from Worthing and another for whom Somerset Levels are home patch. Two Redshanks displayed, a distant Kite circled and the only sign of migration was five Swallows slipping through.

Lastly, and highlight of the day, was a nice male Adder slipping across the path although a little to quick and continually moving for a good picture.

Afternoon tea and then home via A27 with yet more sh#t traffic all round Chi and into Pompey.

Wonder if my suggested date of the 6th, tomorrow, will produce first Nightingales??

A single Swallow going back and forth over Tangier Road as it went murky after a sunny start; looked a bit disoriented!! Med Gulls heard overhead also in the murk.
One Pug on the conservatory, (Brindled I think) and a Plume spp but bugger all in the trap and with overnight rain forecast no trapping tonight. Bullfinch calling from trees behind No 7.

Better weather with one Gos, a few Buzzards, a Red Kite and a Sparrowhawk plus Woodlark almost immediately. Two more distant Gos and later a single having a nice duel with a Buzzard, maybe the same as the first bird but I suspect different. No Hawfinches today.

Craft Fair at Blashford, so very busy and rather cold in the wind. Luckily Popup Cafe was on site for the last time until next Winter, so a mug of coffee was very welcome.

Just two single Sparrowhawks, a Red Kite, a Peregrine and probably ten Buzzards. Single Med Gull, two LRP, four Redshanks, two Oyks and twenty or so Goosanders. 

No summer visitors other than Chiff and Blackcap.

Titchfield

Dark-edged Beefly

A Water Vole noisily feeding just under Meadow Hide was not very obliging but the kite was at least a decent scope view. Sadly news of the stilt didn't come through in time. The Beeflies were obvious and numerous although sadly no Dotted - Swanwick was recommended as a possible site by Bob C.

Bombus terrestris (Buff-tailed)