Saturday 11th February 2023.
It looks as though my Chest Infection is here to stay a little longer, but that didn't stop me from having a cracking day out around the Southampton area and also the New Forest. I had an itinerary of birds I wanted to see today, kicking off with the juvenile Iceland Gull down off Redbridge Wharf and although the day was mostly overcast, it was unseasonably mild and best of all, dry! There were some cracking birds to see today and apart from one species we were after, we managed to grab a hatful of ‘year-ticks’ to add to our good start to the year.
I asked Andy to put his moth box on overnight and this morning, it yielded bugger all! I suppose it really is hit or miss at this time of year as the temperature overnight is still near freezing, but you just never know. I didn't want to hang around too long here and so we were pretty soon off and away down the M27 making our way to Southampton. The Sat Nav was a little over keen and parked us a little way from the intended area of Redbridge Train Station car park. Never mind, a bit of walking didn't hurt anyone and seeing I have a bit of weight to lose, onwards and upwards.
Over the railway bridge we went, skilfully avoiding a large dog turd on the main path and then making our way across the short journey to the Redbridge Wharf, where we joined fellow ‘Lazee’s’ Messrs. Andy Friend, Simon Colenut and Pete Gammage, who kindly and quickly put us on the juvenile Iceland Gull straight away. The bird was sitting on the mudflats opposite the main body of water, busy preening among many Herring and Black-headed Gulls. Our second ‘white-winged’ Gull of the winter and a good species to add to our year list as well. I have never been to this location before and so quickly had a good look through the Gulls and the many waders and wildfowl present here.
I was only talking briefly about a Common Sandpiper being present earlier in the week and suddenly, Pete exclaimed that he had found one under the bridge nearby and we were all on our first Common Sandpiper of the year. Superb. Even this bird was busy preening itself, however, it was quite distant and being a ‘scope job’, my photos of the bird were rather poor (the light wasn't that great either). Checking the waders, I found a Bar-tailed Godwit among the many Black-tailed Godwits behind the Gulls and there must have been at least 100+ Lapwing present on the mudflats too with a few Curlew and Redshank among them.
Looking south down the River Test, I could see large numbers of birds as far as the eye could see and made me wonder what else exciting could be lurking down here. I did see a Little Grebe briefly on the water and a female Sparrowhawk put up all the Lapwing as the raptor flew off northbound and out of view. The ‘Lazee’s’ had their fill and made their way to their next destination as Andy and I enjoyed prolonged views of the Iceland Gull and other birds present. Pleased with catching up with our first quest, we then made our way to our second; the Ring-necked Parakeets at Queens Park, roughly four miles away.
We parked up in Orchard Place, opposite Queens Park and made our way into the small area of greenery surrounded by tall trees. Situated near the Southampton Port, this little oasis of trees probably suits local dog-walkers and people just getting from A to B, but it did hold a few birds during our ten minutes there. We searched for the Parakeets by walking from one end to the other, but for our efforts, we were rewarded with a small group of three Redwing high up in the trees, sub-singing. A few Blue Tits flitted about the trees, but it wasn't till we nearly gave up and made our way back to the car, that two Ring-necked Parakeets flew in front of us and landed in some nearby trees. Bingo! Yes, they are ‘plastic’ like birds, but they are on the British List and so added to our year list with glee! Next stop, Acres Down for the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers!
Before we arrived at the small car park at Acres Down, we HAD to pay a visit to the quaint little Farm Shop where I bought tomorrow's dinner - superb selection of Sausages and also a bit of grub for now! Low and behold, all the ‘Lazee’s’ seen earlier today were all gathered near the now famous ‘LSW’ tree and now included both JB and Graeme Loader, armed with their huge camera lenses. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was last seen at 9.30am and promptly stopped ‘drumming’ after that, therefore Andy and myself had dipped on this rare bird.
After an hour or so, all the ‘Lazee’s’ made their exit while Andy and I waited patiently and explored the surrounding area. During our time there, we were treated to our first Common Crossbill, a male bird, perched high up on a conifer; also our first of the year and our fourth ‘year-tick’ of the day. Excellent. A couple of birders shortly came up to us and told us that they had seen quite a few Crossbills earlier today and while talking to them, a Hawfinch briefly flew high over, but I was the only one who got onto the bird. Sorry Andy! My fifth ‘year-tick’ of the day! Other birds seen during our time here included a Marsh Tit, several Nuthatches, a Treecreeper and a Siskin was heard but not seen.
Our final stop today was going to be Shatterford, in the New Forest, for the Great Grey Shrike. It had been seen yesterday between Shatterford car park and Denny Wood and so we set up the scope overlooking the area looking both west and south over the heath. Suffice to say, it was going to be a long shot if the bird was present and with a lot of ramblers going back and forth, would the bird be present today? While waiting patiently, we enjoyed our first Woodlark of the year, flying and singing over our heads briefly, before disappearing back over the trees and out of view. That was a bonus! A Raven flew southbound high over the heath with something in its bill and I think the only other bird we saw was a Goldfinch. We could not find anything out over the heath and then while I was scanning the distant trees around the Bishop's Dyke area....... Bingo!
The Raven flying over the heath at Shatterford Car Park.
I suppose it was just pure luck or sheer persistence that I was scanning the distant trees every five minutes and then something caught my eye. I spotted a white and black looking bird on a tall Silver Birch way in the distance. I put my scope on a higher magnification and then a big smile spread across my face as I located the elusive Great Grey Shrike. I quickly told Andy I had the bird and he quickly confirmed it. Taking another look at the bird through the scope (it was that distant I could not even see it through the binoculars!), it then flew down from its perch and disappeared out of view. A few minutes later, I picked it up perched on another Silver Birch and then again, it flew down out of view. Happy with another superb ‘year-tick’ under our belt, we made our way to the car where we were quickly questioned by some birders if we had seen the Shrike. We gave them directions on where to look as more and more birders came over and told us they had been here all day and not seen the bird, so excitedly, they all started to take a walk to where the bird was last seen. A cracking day with 7 more species added to my year list.
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