Pig Bush

Friday the 5th July 2013
An early morning visit to the New Forest. I visited Pig Bush, Shatterford/Beaulieu Road Station and Acres Down.
No rarities just the birds you might expect to see in the New Forest at this time of year and with juveniles much in evidence.
A combined list from all the sites; Redstart, Stonechat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Reed Bunting, Lapwing, Meadow Pipit, Tree Pipit, Treecreeper, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Coal Tit, Stock Dove. No Wood Warbler, Firecrest, Goshawk or Ascensian Frigate Bird.
It was interesting to note that as the day warmed up the birds all but disappeared. There were lots at 06:00 and hardly any by the time I headed for home at 14:00. A good number of dragonflies were nice to see although I could not id any of them! Also nice to see a Fallow Deer at Pig Bush and some Common cotton-Grass at Acres Down.
Usual standard pics below, some of them incorrectly labelled? Let me know of any errors you may spot.

Pig Bush

juv Blackbird-Pig Bush

Fallow Deer- Pig Bush

juv Redstart-Pig Bush

juv Redstart-Pig Bush

juv Redstart-Pig Bush

juv Stonechat-Pig Bush

Mistle Thrush-Pig Bush

juv Stonechat-Pig Bush

juv Stonechat-Pig Bush

juv Stonechats-Pig Bush

juv Stonechat up a tree-Pig Bush

juv Stonechat up a tree-Pig Bush

juv Meadow Pipit -Pig Bush

juv Willow Warbler-Pig Bush



juv Stonechat-Shatterford




Common cotton-Grass-Shatterford



Common-cotton-Grass-Shatterford

juv Redstart-on railway bridge near Beaulieu Road Station

 female Stonechat-Shatterford

House Martin-Shatterford

House Martin-Shatterford

Mistle Thrush-Denny Wood

Redstart-Denny Wood

juv Redstart-Denny Wood

Stock Dove-Denny Wood

Stonechat-Acres Down

Stonechat-Acres Down

House Martins-Shatterford

House Martin-Shatterford

Recent Pics

Some recent pics, if you know the beetle or the orchid sp let me know.

Arctic Tern-Farne Islands-03/07/2013

 

Guillemots inc 1 bridled-Inner Farne-03/07/2013

Small Tortoishell-Woodoaks Farm-04/07/2013

Light Aircraft approaching Denham Airfield-04/07/2013

 

male House Sparrow-Woodoaks Farm-04/07/2013

female House Sparrow-Woodoaks Farm-04/07/2013

 

Skylark-Redbournbury-04/07/2013

 

 

 male Yellow Wagtail-Redbournbury-04/07/2013

 

juv? Yellow Wagtail-Redbournbury-04/07/2013

 

 

Red Cardinal Beetle?-Ivinghoe Beacon-04/07/2013

Orchid sp?-Ivinghoe Beacon-04/07/2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here Comes The Bridled-traditionally late of course!

A trip to Inner Farne with Samuel and Dave. We left about 3 a.m. this morning and headed up to Seahouses where we arrived a little after 8 o'clock. Not bad progress with a couple of quick stops on route. Whilst making our way to the ticket booths on the harbour side we heard the familiar voice of LGRE calling "Dave-Dave" he was delighted to see Dave and had just returned from the island and had enjoyed "crippling" views of the Bridled Tern before he saw it fly off. We paid our £13 for the return crossing and waited until after 9 o'clock when we boarded our boat for the 25 minute journey to Inner Farne.
On arrival no sign of the Bridled Tern but Razorbill, Guillemot, Puffin, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern, Shag kept us occupied for a while but our target bird was nowhere to be seen. After a couple of hours everyone was getting anxious as we only had limited time on the jetty. Then a strange turn of events. Another birder called an Arctic Skua but as Dave looked out to sea he got straight on the Bridled Tern. He called it out as it flew over the jetty and then out of site. Some birders got on it and some didn't. Dave and Samuel did and I didn't. Dave and Samuel could not stop laughing they thought it was hilarious! A bit harsh considering I was doing all the driving I thought.
This sighting seemed to re-focus the assembled birders attention and nearly all were scanning the Terns in flight and after about 10 minute's someone called the Bridled Tern as it flew towards it's favourite resting spot. It landed on the rocks and we enjoyed great views for over half an hour as it rested for a few minutes then moved a short distance away and rested again. It did not look too settled and seemed to call a couple of times and on one occasion was harassed by a Puffin.  It then took flight again appearing to perform some kind of display flight before disappearing from view. By now our ferry was back and we had to leave the island. A trouble free return journey completed a gruelling but most enjoyable day.
A few nice pics and an account from the rangers perspective on their blog here http://farnephoto.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/here-comes-bride_3.html

Paul's Wilson's

Paul and Dave went over to the Isle of Wight yesterday to see the Wilson's Phalarope.
Paul's pic below.

Wilson's Phalarope-Yarmouth IOW-Paul Frost

Posse Birding

Saturday 22nd June 2013.
A trip to Wells, West Quay in Norfolk with Paul, Brendan, Dave, Ephraim, Samuel, Tony D and later Jim.
We met up at 06:00 at the Harvester and all 7 of us including Brendan crammed into my miniMetro. A brief discussion as to how to load the vehicle resulted in 3 in the front and 4 in the back. It rained nearly all the way but luckily had stopped by the time we arrived at Wells where we met Jim. Jim had already seen a nice looking bird and her name was Penny. We joined the other birders assembled a sensible distance from the feeders under the Rosy Starlings favoured tree. We didn't have to wait too long before the Rose-coloured Starling dropped down onto the feeders. It showed well for a few minutes before hopping back up into the tree and out of view. Then again a few minutes later a repeat performance and this time it took a drink from the bird bath. Whilst at the Key we also saw a Spoonbill on the saltmarsh and a Little Tern fishing.
Next stop was a site in Norfolk where we had recently seen a male Montagu's Harrier.  But now we had Jim with us, so how were we to load the miniMetro? Yes you guessed it 4 in the front and 4 in the back. We didn't have to wait too long before we connected with a male Montagu's Harrier. It showed well for about 45 minutes quartering the fields. A female also made a very brief appearance. Just before we left we enjoyed a bit of action as the male gave chase to a Skylark, unfortunately we couldn't see the outcome as both birds disappeared behind a hedgerow. Also here a Red Kite.
Next stop was Swanton Novers " Raptor Watchpoint". We spent some time here but as expected no Honey Buzzards.
Titchwell was our final destination and the best birds seen here were; Spotted Redshank, several hundred Knot including some in summer plumage, Bar-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Little Gull, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Little Tern. Also a cute looking Chinese Water Deer showed briefly.
Nice to meet Tony D, who I always wanted to be as good as at football but now at birding/photography, however, I have no points on my licence so maybe I'm a better driver?
Tony, Ephraim and Samuel took some pics and no doubt they will be on their respective blogs.
Tony's Blog http://regentsparkbirds.blogspot.co.uk/
Samuel's Blog http://samuelbirding.blogspot.co.uk/
Ephraim's Blog http://mybirdblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Paul's pics below.

Rose-coloured Starling-Paul Frost

Rose-coloured Starling-Paul Frost

Rose-coloured Starling-Paul Frost

Male Montagu's Harrier-Paul Frost

Male Montagu's Harrier-Paul Frost

Male Montagu's Harrier-Paul Frost

Male Montagu's Harrier-Paul Frost

Knot-Paul Frost

Knot-Paul Frost

Chinese Water Deer -Paul Frost

Paul's Pacific Success

My birding pal Paul Frost connected with the Pacific Swift at Trimley yesterday. I couldn't go yesterday due to fathers day commitments. Regretting not going on Saturday now!

Pacific Swift-Trimley Marshes-Paul Frost

Pacific Swift-Trimley Marshes-Paul Frost

proposed day trip to Calais

We have been talking recently about doing a birding day trip to Calais and surrounding area. I recently read a post on a blog that I thought I followed that had some really good sights and info, however, after looking through all the blogs I follow I can't find it. So fellow bloggers if you have any info you think might useful for a birding day trip to Calais it would be very much appreciated. Either post a comment or my email sh4rpy [at] Hotmail dot com. Many thanks.

Birds 2 Hapless Twitchers 0

Saturday 15/06/2013.
American Golden Plover in East Sussex and Black Kite in Kent were the target birds for myself, Paul and Ephraim. First stop was Cuckmere Haven, where the Amercan Golden Plover appeared to have done a Friday night flit. So not too much time was spent here and we headed off to Selling in Kent. A couple of miles from the site the news services reported the Black Kite and also a Honey Buzzard. So things were looking good. Also a Pacific Swift was reported in Suffolk so we discussed the possibility of going for this if we connected fairly quickly with the Black Kite. Well we spent 5 hours on site and no sign of the Kite. A pair of Hobbies did do their best to entertain us. We probably still had time to get to Suffolk but the news services reported the road where we were going to park being closed and police on scene issuing tickets, so we headed for home.

Fort it was then Fort it wasn't

An afternoons birding in Hampshire with Paul and Ephraim. A late start due to Asda's, Costco and then wifey to work. At our pre trip team meeting we all rather half-heartedly decided to head for Fort Brockhurst to see the "is it" or "isn't it" Marsh Warbler. As soon as we got on the m25 the traffic was really heavy. We were discussing the Marsh/Reed Wabler and looking at the reports on various  news services. We fairly quickly decided to abort our mission and instead head to Acre's Down. We couldn't stay as long as we wanted as I had to be back to collect the boss. However, we did manage some decent birds. 2 probably 3 Firecrest, 2 Wood Warbler, 2 Redstart (male and female), Buzzard, Marsh Tit and Grey Wagtail. Ephraim's account here http://mybirdblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-new-forest.html

Firecrest-Acres Down-Paul Frost

Wood Warbler-Acres Down-Paul Frost

Redstart-Acres Down

Redstart-Acres Down