5k additions...etc

 

Because of M's accident and subsequent rehab, outings are currently limited to 09:30-12:30 maximum. Not really long enough for TH but a quick visit produced the best views yet of the Velvet Scoters with three flying in from the west and landing off the sailing club. A Red-throated Diver and three Eiders were about it. Two drake Pochards and Scarlet Elf Cup above.

The following  day a circuit of Farlington pushed the time to the limit but added some new 5k square birds. The highlight was a fine bushy-tailed Red Fox snooping about just in front of me and causing the various Canada Geese to go  all 'giraffe-necked' just in case!!

It eventually trotted off straight towards me sniffing the ground all the time until it finally sensed my presence and loped off disturbing four hen pheasants.

On Saturday a brief non-birding visit to Stansted Garden Centre was enlived by a calling Raven on top of one of the ornamental redwoods and joined by a second bird - surely they breed here or nearby. At the same time five Buzzards and two Red Kites were airborne.  Goldcrests were heard in the arboretum but the area favoured by Firecrests is closed until Easter. This Cattle Egret was one of three at Warblington on the way home.

After a fourth COVID jab yesterday, a fifteen minute wait was spent in M&S over coffee and a toastie - and, with a couple of hours available, a visit to Farlington seemed the best option. A nice female Marsh Harrier was the best (and a 5k year tick) as were six Gadwall. Forty or more Avocet were roosting on the lake and eventually departed en masse into the harbour only to decide twenty minutes later that the tide was still too high and so returned.

The reserve was busier than I've ever seen it; the sheer number of 'togs waiting for Beardies etc was nuts!! And the rest of the seawall was packed with families, dog walkers and joggers.

This ringed Brent Goose was one of PP's; hopefull registering on www.geese.org  may provide some history. I've  been hoping that the very local Brent flock might contain ringed birds but none so far.

PURSA - 5100

 A free couple of hours seemed an opportunity for a walk along the seafront prior to its closure in the weeks ahead looking for/at Purple Sandpipers. Chilly and very grey but the low tide ensured at least some birds would be feeding. The numbers here seem to have dropped off since late autumn whilst the other Hampshire resident flock at Barton-on-sea seems to have grown to record(?) proportions with 29 today. So, today, just six rather distant birds and three much closer. Single Cormorant and two each of Rock Pipit and Oystercatcher were about it.

The Rock Pipit below was a massive crop and taken at 200 ISO and 1/40 and 1/60 second and 600mm FFE, whilst upping the ISO and being a slightly larger and closer birds meant the PURSA's were just a large crop with more pixels on the birds. Proximity and blue skies are the new lens's friends!! Coupled with the GX9 it's never going to create great images but more than adequate for the blog or embedding in notes. Should be OK for butterflies and dragonflies but maybe not quite enough for damsels. Definitely back to the 60mm macro for smaller stuff.

Sadly these guys are outside my 5k square so don't 'count' whereas yesterday's  four Collared Dove do!!

A bunch of local bits and bobs.

 

Two out of very few youngsters amongst 500 Brent in the refuge, probably 2-4 percent.

The usual Little Egret, Brown Rat and Common Gull amongst the geese.

A dot in a blue sky was enlarged to produce this white- headed Cormorant,  probably the bird that flew in the previous day whilst chatting to MW on his way to the allotments.

Glossy Ibises (not!!) ... and a day off

 

(WWII landing craft and three of eight Purple Sandpiper)

A number of Glossy Ibises have turned up in Hampshire and having been notified  of three at Warblington in the field/s usually used by Cattle Egrets it seemed worth a quick look on the way back from Petersfield. Needless to say despite TH from TH and three other birders looking no sign of any ibises, just a dozen or so Cattle Egrets and a calling Firecrest.

Disappointingly one at Farlington yesterday wasn't reported until it flew off today!! Doubly disappointing as it was in my 5km Challenge square.

Another singleton was at Workmans Lane and decamped to TH on Monday where it was seen briefly.

As well as half a dozen over the M27 it seems as if there has been some on the IOW so maybe they've relocated to Hants; also one in the Pagham area.

Sunday on the seafront was very busy, unsurprisingly, considering the unseasonably nice weather. A  post coffee and bacon butty walk found eight Purple Sandpiper in two groups. In a few weeks this part of the promenade will be closed to pedestrians for a year or more so possibly no chances to see these little gems until 2023 or later.

Total 60/112/121 to date (5k, Hants, All)

The new 5 by 5 k - let the battle begin.

 

Long time no see!!

Today was a classic January day for watching some early Gos activity and so it proved although a very quiet 50 minutes or so with little on view other than singing Mistle Thrushes and a few Redwings preceded their appearance. Other heard-onlys were Siskin, Raven and one or two Woodlarks. A couple of Buzzards flew past but with not a puff of wind and a clear blue, cloudless sky seemed disinclined to do anything more than glide to the next perch. First one, then two and finally three Goshawks rose up, one flew off north but the other two sparred for a while before heading south.

Amazingly,  it's  nearly three years since the last Gos watch here - a side effect of the impact of COVID - how time flies.

At Blashford very little but this Green Sandpiper showed well, the Goldeneyes were far better and closer than the Langstone birds and a handful of Goosanders were the first for a while. A brief visit to the south side saw a few Siskins feeding high up in the trees and two very combative Kingfishers chasing each other from Ivy Lake to the Salt Pond and back.

Yesterday was a brief look at QECP where the Brambling flock seems to have gone, moved or broken up with just ten seen or heard and precious little of anything else.

Total now 120

Week 2 and a twitch, the first in four years!

Week two started with a virtually unbirdable day weather-wise and so a long, slow breakfast at TH ensued whilst watching the rain chuck down.

West facing hide windows and seats were wet and so the north east corner of Meadow Hide was the best place to be. A long chat with DR saw us watching three Marsh Harriers, male, adult female and a third bird too distant and part-hidden to be sure but probably the younger male from the previous visit. Considering the conditions they showed well.

A couple of Ravens dropped into the meadow briefly  before departing back eastwards.

The sea was unwatchable.

The following day, all change, with fine warm and sunny weather which made the walk out to Sandy and then Black Point very pleasant. First up was a roller-coastering Sparrowhawk behind the Lifeboat Station, followed by a backlit Great Northern and a few each of Razorbill and Guillemot. The Black-throated Diver/s took longer to find having strayed a long way north, well beyond the North Pilsey buoy but just about doable.  A Slavonian Grebe and a couple of Sandwich Terms were best-of-the-rest.

Heath Pond was rammed but added a couple of NfYs in a very brief stay including 'plastic' Black Swans. All the east side scrub has been felled to ground level, probably deemed necessary, but giving birds nowhere to hide.

Lastly a quick pull in at the A27 roundabout added forty or so Avocets to the list.

Yesterday, Monday, was a dismal but mostly dry forecast and so, with other commitments this week, seemed a good opportunity to go on a twitch, albeit reasonably local - just 26 miles - for the Little Bunting at Iping Common. First up was the obvious need for wellies just to get out of the carpark!! It looked as it if might me a bit hopeless on such a dim day especially without any local knowledge, but luckily another birder was waiting on a minor path having seen a few Reed Buntings. I unpacked my bins, pointed them at the first bird I could see and lo and behold - Little Bunting!! It sat still long enough for me to unpack and set up my scope and gave good views whilst 'tic' ing occasionally. Eventually it and the RBs slipped low down into the birch scrub and out of sight.

Apart from a calling Raven, singing Song and Mistle Thrushes and several noisy Green Woodpeckers it was very quiet. One or two scolding Dartfords were disinclined to show themselves in the usual patch of Gorse on the way back to the car.

At Pulborough, lots of water and lots of mud and lots of ducks and geese etc but no raptor activity and no reported sightings of LSW recently - hopefully if it stays in the area it might start drumming next month which would help. The trees between Green Lane and the church were full of Redwings calling and sub-singing, probably 150 or so and Upperton's Field had some nice Fieldfare and just a single Woodlark bringing the years total to 117.

And for a bit of fun I 'signed up' for HOS/KBs 5km square challenge. Just need to break out the map to work out best placement of the square in relation to home.

Below, phone-scoped LB, trees full of Redwings and mud and water!!