Iberian Chiffchaff within Otterbourne Hill Wood.

Saturday 21st May 2022.

The Iberian Chiffchaff showing well singing high up in an Ash tree within Otterbourne Park Wood.

For well over a week now, a ‘putative’ Iberian Chiffchaff had been found within Otterbourne Park Wood and after days of discussion on the bird's biometrics and its song, the good news is it has now been confirmed as a true Iberian Chiffchaff. This would be a Hampshire ‘tick’ for both Andy and myself and so we took ourselves the 35 minute journey up there to view the bird on a pleasant sunny morning.

Heart & Dart moth. Another first for the year.

I checked Andy’s moth box, which was put on overnight and though the number of moths were small, the egg trays contained my first Heart & Dart moth of the year. Other moths present included 2 Common Pugs, 1 Shuttle-shaped Dart and 1 Brimstone Moth. The coffee was nice too which Andy had made while I laboured outside!

 

A Mistle Thrush seen while enjoying a coffee by the Otter Pub within the village.

 

Another photo of the showy Iberian Chiffchaff. I have only ever seen one of these species before and that was many years ago on the Isle of Portland. 

After getting the information to park near the Otter Pub within Otterbourne village, we made our way up Chapel Lane to enter the mostly deciduous Otterbourne Hill Wood. But where was the bird habiting within the woodland? Thankfully, with the power of Whatsapp rare birds group, a chap called John was already within the woodland and having seen the bird earlier in the day, he took us over to view the bird and within a few minutes, we were viewing our first Hampshire Iberian Chiffchaff. The bird has a very distinctive rattle call after the ‘Chiff-chaff’ bit and was easily noticeable, but to tell the difference between it and a Chiffchaff based on biometrics would have been impossible as the bird was quite up within an Ash tree. However, it did show relatively well as I managed to grab some half decent photos of it and a bit of video footage.

A well hungover Andy struggling to cope with the hills within the woodland.

Foxgloves were abundant within the woodland.

After ten minutes of so, we slowly made our way back up the hill, much to Andy’s suffering with his hangover (shame!) to exit the lovely wood behind us. We also saw a close Nuthatch within the woodland and several Long-tailed Tits, while Blackcaps, a Chiffchaff and a Bullfinch were all heard. Nearing the Otter Pub, we noticed that a Coffee Bar was by the car park and so Andy bought us breakfast as we enjoyed views of Swallow, Common Buzzard and a pair of Swifts overhead (the latter Andy missed and he still needs them for a ‘year-tick’ !). He had to be back by midday to pick his car up from the Garage and so we made our way back home with another species added to my year list, which currently stands at 186 species for the year so far.  Below, some video footage of the Iberian Chiffchaff singing.