Poorly again!

Wednesday 9th March 2022.

The Spotted Redshank within Sidlesham Channel last Saturday. It will not be long before it will be in Summer plumage.

On the back of a nasty toothache last week, both my wife and I have picked up some Flu bug and both of us are off work. I tested negative for the Coronavirus, thankfully, last night, but this morning, I felt I had been run over by a steamroller! The irritating cough does not help either and I think I am going to be running out of tissues very soon!  So, I have had a very lazy day, mostly sleeping, but now I am awake, I thought I would update the blog as it is now midweek.

An adult Med Gull within Pagham Harbour.

Though I was driving on Monday and a passenger yesterday, I did see a few birds that made my blog. The grassy area beside the DSTL building on Portsdown Hill, held at least a dozen Fieldfare that presumably had pit-stopped there, for they had gone later in the day. Anyway, nice to see these birds close up by the roadside as I was making my way along the top of the Hill. Yesterday, while my working colleague was driving along the M27 westbound, I spotted a pair of soaring Red Kites by the edge of the motorway and also a Common Buzzard perched on a small tree near the road. Early in the afternoon, as we drove past the QA Hospital and my work colleague, who was driving our vehicle, asked me what was flying in front of our vehicle. It was a superb male Sparrowhawk roughly doing the same speed limit we were traveling at until it banked off south and down the Hill. But what a view!

One of the buck Roe Deer's we saw in a field near the Church on Saturday.

The Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are still entertaining the birders at Acres Down, with sightings and superb photos shared on Whatsapp for all to enjoy. We are now into the second week of March and therefore, it was no surprise that a few migrants have arrived into the UK. Today, a male Wheatear was found at Durlston Head, Dorset and sightings of both Sand Martin and Little Ringed Plover were had in various areas of the UK. Late winter birds are still present in Hampshire, including the Great Grey Shrike at Backley Bottom in the New Forest. Offering only very limited views, it can be a struggle to locate this bird it seems. Not far from there, Blashford Lakes offered both Caspian and Ringed-billed Gull earlier this week and the Bittern is still present in front of the Ivy North Hide (if you can stay awake within the Hide!).  

Another photo of the Stock Dove we saw near the Church near Marsh Farm on Saturday.

Surprisingly, The Isle of Portland has been rather sparse for migrants with no Wheatear sightings reported yet, but they did have a very good sea-watch from the Bill this morning. 1385 Kittiwakes went through in just two hours along with 8 Manx Shearwater (I did not see any in 2021!), 9 Red-throated Divers, 1 Black-throated Diver and both Arctic and Great Skua. Nearby, Lodmoor RSPB Reserve held a Bonaparte’s Gull today.