An afternoon birdwatching in Warsash

Posted on 12th December 2020 by Richard

Birdwatching along the banks of the River Hamble

I often link going to Warsash to link in with seeing my daughter at her workplace in Hamble. I park the car in the free car park and catch the Pink Ferry over the river to Hamble, this saves a 20 – 25 minute drive and paying for a car park the other side. At the weekends I’ll often meet up there to walk her dog. Luckily the nature of the Path, mud, reeds and tides prevents any of our four legged friends getting to the birds !

Common Buzzard (in Bishop’s Waltham)

Luckily the tide was out when I arrived and this brought about much activity. If you being blessed you can often see a Seal coming in on the tide on it’s way upstream for a bite to eat, then see it returning as it’s going back out. Not today though. Needless to say the Pink Ferry ‘Captain’ say’s he see’s it daily !

Redshank – Greenshank – Ringed Plover

Beside the photos shown, a Kingfisher appeared briefly and over 100 Dunlin were present but a tad too far for my lens. Speaking of my daughter, I took her birdwatching here for the first time and the very first bird we say was the Kingfisher sitting on the bank no more than 20 meters away. Sometimes it happens like that !

Black Tailed Godwit, must have been 60+ there

Curlew

Warsash can be hit and miss, I’ve been there a few times and seen nothing. More to look out for there are Rock Pipits, Brent Geese, Kestrels, Mumjacs in the gardens on the other side of the Reed Beds and much more.
If nothing about, catch the Pink Ferry to Hamble and stroll left to some woodland and marsh where the River meets Southampton Water.

Redpolls and Siskins in the New Forest

Posted on 11th March 2019 by Richard

A typical Garden in the National Park

A great new venue for watching wildlife has been achieved by my Sister moving to Burley Village in the New Forest and in late February, early March visits I was entertained by Redpolls and Siskins greedily setting about her Bird Feeders.

First to arrive were the Siskins who happily shared the feeders with Goldfinches, Sparrows with the usual Blackbirds picking up the scraps and crumbs from underneath only to be disturbed by the occasional visitor to the front garden in the form of Rufus, my Sister’s black Labrador.
Overall, the gardens have a wealth of daily bird visitors; in the back there are Sparrows, Blue and Great Tits with the Long Tailed Tits flitting around from bush to bush and tree to tree. Around and about, Nuthatches were out in numbers, Yellowhammers, Common Buzzards. In the woods and edges of the heathland Green Woodpeckers were heard plus the odd sight of a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Fishlake Meadows

A few days later I went to Fishlake Meadows, a large Reserve just north side of Romsey.
This was quite some day, no sooner had I started my walk I saw Treecreepers, Chiffchaffs, solo Greenfinch and Chaffinches. Upon going along to the viewing area, a Great White Egret was slowly walking alongside the Reed Beds, two Pintails appeared.

Great White Egret – Pintails – Nuthatch

Seeing so many bird species in the last two or three weeks has given me some optimism for a good Spring and Summer of bird breeding and hopefully successful fledging.

Not long now !

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Barn Owl at Titchfield Canal

Posted on 28th February 2019 by Richard

Without a doubt, the nicest spot of the month was the Barn Owl seen in a large tree alongside Titchfield Canal Locals say they often nest there but after a couple of weeks it had moved on.
The Canal path is quite a gem for spots, from north to south it’s around two and a half miles consisting of Water, Fields, Reed, Woodland and the Posbrook Flood. The main visitors are Dog Walkers and Birders, but with the path is well fenced so a good deterrent for wandering unruly pets and the odd Birder who doesn’t necessarily always keep to the proper places !

Titchfield Haven was still showing how well it is populated by birds through the Winter. The Avocets started to arrive, the Marsh Harriers did their usual daily hunt around the Reserve and on the shore a number of Gannets were seen flying up and down Southampton Water. I also made a first visit to the Forest of Bere and was amazed at the number of Goldcrests I saw, it seemed that almost every tree had them. Another nice thing about it the Food Van they have there, one of the best Burgers I’ve had for a long time and garnished with various vegeatbles all locally produced.

Forest of Bere – Curlew – Goldcrest

Avocet – Common Buzzard – Curlew flying at Warsash

Good weather also allowed quite a few walks around my two Patches, basically north of my Flats and south of my flats ! Great Spotted Woodpeckers were out in numbers as were Green Woodpeckers, but heard but not seen.
Bishops Waltham is never short of Common Buzzards and almost every walk produces a good view.

Overall, February gave a hint of things to come, relatively dry weather gave the odd hint of Spring, but all in all, birds were busy and awaiting the longer days for nest building and mating.

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Wildlife highlights January

Posted on 4th February 2019 by Richard

Mid winter sent me, as well as my usual two wildlife patches around Bishop’s Waltham just to Titchfield Haven, Totten and the New Forest.

Around the Patch included 100’s of Redwing. Not unusual at this time of the year but maybe unusual in the fact I didn’t see any Fieldfare. Of special interest to them were the Football Pitches, medium height and quite soggy most of the time.

It’s surprising how many wild Deer you get around here. They keep you on your toes because you never seem to know where they’re going to spring out from. When they do make a run, it’s a hopeful grab of the camera. On the rare occasion, this works quite well !

Redwing – Song Thrush – Waxwing

Waxwings don’t often appear in this part of the Country. Suddenly quite a large flock turned up at Totten where they stripped the trees in the Asda Car Park dry. Shoppers were quite bemused by some 30 Birders a day turning up, they even attracted BBC South who gave them good coverage !

Black Tailed Godwits

Titchfield Haven sported the usual Waders including quite a few Black Tailed Godwits and Avocets.
The Turnstones which congregate along the beach opposite the Visitor Centre and Restaurant attract many visitors and they integrate with the passers by in a very tame manner.

All in all it was a pretty much normal January here in South Hampshire although a number of Ospreys were spotted around the coast and a good number of Goshawks within the New Forest.

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Winter’s day birdwatching at Godmersham

Posted on 19th January 2018 by Richard

As I said in my previous post, the small village of Godmersham is only two miles from my place and I seldom go there bird watching.
I’ve certainly, up to the last week, missed out this winter, beside the wonderful appearance of Hawfinches, there’s an array of small birds about with a constant chorus of song.

Goldcrest

The busiest day this week was Wednesday, no sooner had I got out of the Van did I see three Goldcrests jumping between a Yew Tree and the Graveyard wall, then looking upwards, a Grey Wagtail sitting on the roof of the Church.

Goldfinch – Long Tailed Tit – Grey Wagtail

Mistle Thrush – Treecreeper – Greenfinch

Walking along the Lane I encounted two Nuthatches and 4 Treecreepers which although not rare, not often seen so much in the open, if seen at all !

Long Tailed Tits and Goldcrests were most in number, never seen so many in one area.
Add to that 4 Greenfinches and two Mistle Thrushes, you just couldn’t find anything negative on a beautifully sunny Winter’s day.
One Lady arrived from further down the Lane and said she was watching a Blackbird foraging when a Sparrowhawk came down and took it away in one foul swoop.

Nuthatch

One thing which did surprise me was a few of the Birders remarking on Coal Tits. I never knew they are maybe one of the lesser seen birds. Without sounding too much of a show off I told them I have about a dozen in my Garden every day!

Male Chaffinch

Little Egret in River next to Church

All in all, a special morning out and with the Hawfinches as well has to go down as one of the best days as well.
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Little Owl on the Marshes

Posted on 21st December 2017 by Richard

Little Owl

I read through a tweet by my good Birdwatcher friend Neil the whereabouts of a Little Owl south of Warehorne on the Romney Marshes.
As I had to pop down to the RSPB Shop at Dungeness I detoured around the Marshes and was lucky enough to get a good pose whilst the beautiful bird was sunning him or herself on a derelict Shed Roof.
I’ve seen three now, the other times at Hook-With-Warsash and the regular resident at Scotney Farm near Lydd.

A Heron landing in one of the Dykes in the Romney Marshes

The beauty of bleak at Dungeness

Old Lighthouse at Dungeness with Cormorants

Being in a bit of a rush (or panic!!) to get my Christmas shopping done and dusted I didn’t have much time at the Reserve, just a pop along to Firth Hide and the ARC.
Burrowes from Firth was pretty much iced over with just a huge amount of Cormorants in their usual position on a small Island and in the trees to the west, a number of Shelduck and an assortment of Gulls.

The ARC was pretty quiet although, according to another Birdwatcher in the Hide, I’d just missed the Kingfisher !
I also spotted a Bittern landing in the Reeds opposite, but not spotted quick enough to get a photo.
I don’t have a problem with missing things, I go on the ‘if they’re there they’re there’ and ‘right place, right time’.
However, as always, the bleakness of Dungeness is always special

Saying all that, there was much activity by Tree Sparrows at Boulderwall Farm. With numbers continuously dropping, it’s good to see them there – and being well fed to boot !
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Fieldfares return down the Lane

Posted on 18th November 2017 by Richard

It’s always good indication that winter is upon us when the Fieldfares along with their pals the Redwings return, always about the same time, 10th – 15th. November.
This year is no exception, it started with a trickle around the 8th and has now built up to more than 200 who jump from tree to tree along the edge of the field here.
If you have a Camera, you can put a bet on them always being two trees ahead of you though, they’re pretty well camouflaged against the branches and remaining few leaves, the first sign you get of them is when they all take flight leaving you to curse that you should have looked sooner!

Thus far Winter has been good in the Garden; a huge and pleasing amount of House Sparrows, Dunnocks, Robins, a few Goldfinches, Blackbirds, Long Tailed, Coal, Blue and Great Tits.
Plus the occasional Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer, it’s looking good.
Overhead, four Buzzards and the Sparrowhawk are frequently seen.

Quick trip to Dungeness

I only had a couple of hours to spare so popped down to the Old Lighthouse, the 4 closest Hides in the Reserve and Scotney Farm where I hoped to get another glimpse of the Little Owl. Needless to say the latter obviously heard I was coming and wasn’t there.

Although a really pleasant day with no wind, not much about.
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Trip to Arne – Day 1

Posted on 16th October 2017 by Richard

My first full day on a Camp Site close to Corfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck naturally meant a day at RSPB Arne.

Although I’d been there last year, it was just half a day and upon my return I noticed I didn’t really walk round ‘the best bits’.

Spoonbills

Some of the Spoonbills

One bird I’ve always missed at Dungeness is the Spoonbill. Arne disappoint, I saw 27 grouped togther on the islands north east of the Hide facing Poole Harbour.

In fact, the day before there were over 70 apparently, but I was quite happy with my lot !

Curlew

White Fungi – Species I know not

Visions of the Sahara !

From this Hide I spotted a distant Kingfisher but too far away to focus, some Redshanks, Curlews and Lapwings were about but not many others.
This was probably due to the fact that it was the day when Sahara Dust along with ash from the Spanish Land Fires was blowing up from the south which brought about a coloured sky not too far amiss from the Full Eclipse a few years ago.
It was certainly very quiet.

Two scenes showing the strange light given out by the dust clouds

The RSPB have done great works at Arne and although the car park may appear full, walking around the various tracks you don’t seem to see an awful lot of people.
You can see why the BBC presented Springwatch from there, the diversity of heath, reed, coast, farmland, coast and woodland is unique, as are the approach roads to it.

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Autumn arrives down the Lane

Posted on 13th September 2017 by Richard

The Virginia Creeper

An old boy gave me two Virginia Creeper cuttings about 12 years ago.
I’m not exactly the best with Flowers and Plants (if I can’t eat it, I’m useless!!), so I just popped them into the ground and every year since, come September, they give me an enormous array of red.

A trip to Rye Harbour

Have to say I chose the right day, beautiful weather with a mild breeze, a joy to walk along the River, on the beach, around the Reserve ending with a nice meal in the William the Conquerer Pub. Perfect!

Little Grebe

One of several Little Egrets

After reading a few ‘recent sightings’ I thought I may see a lot more than I did, but it’s quality not quantity and a few species popped up to say hello.

Rye Harbour never has a shortage of Turnstones and Plovers though and it’s always enjoyable to watch them busying themselves along the side of the River

Like Oare, the Starlings are grouping together rather nicely.

Stoat escaping from something!- Juvenile Linnet – Turnstone

Linnets and Wheatears are the two smaller birds seen a lot there at this time of the year as are numbers of Martins and Swallows stocking up for their long distance journeys for their Winter sun.

Looking from Rye Harbour to Pett Level & Fairlight

The biggest problem still is hearing but not seeing many birds, as hard as you try to locate whereabouts they are exactly in a bush or tree is quite an art. Invariably they’re on the other side or wedged deep into the branches.
But that’s the beauty of it I guess.

Walking down the fields with the crops harvested and leaves beginning to fall just makes me think ‘not long before the Fieldfares arrive’.
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Wildlife Diary

Recording wild life through the year around Hampshire, Kent and elsewhere

Tag Archives: Waders

An afternoon birdwatching in Warsash

Birdwatching along the banks of the River Hamble

Redpolls and Siskins in the New Forest

A typical Garden in the National Park

Fishlake Meadows

Barn Owl at Titchfield Canal

Wildlife highlights January

Winter’s day birdwatching at Godmersham

Little Owl on the Marshes

Little Owl

The beauty of bleak at Dungeness

Fieldfares return down the Lane

Quick trip to Dungeness

Trip to Arne – Day 1

Spoonbills

Visions of the Sahara !

Autumn arrives down the Lane

The Virginia Creeper

A trip to Rye Harbour