A lone Great Black-backed Gull flying over the rocks in front of Southsea Castle. Despite a difficult search for the Purple Sandpipers, they were not to be seen today.
The weather this morning did not look that great, but I was determined to take my dogs for a good walk this morning and so after filling the car up with petrol, I took a drive down to Southsea Castle to see if I could find anything of note. A strong southerly wind was coming in off the Solent and rain was forecast this afternoon. I was well wrapped up against the cold as the temperature was hovering around the 8 degree centigrade mark, but it felt a lot colder in the wind.
Southsea Castle, Southsea:
One of two Oystercatchers were seen on the rocks below the promenade.
The strong onshore wind did not help viewing the rocks below from the new promenade as I searched in vain for the Purple Sandpipers. True, there has only been a handful on show this week, but a good long walk from in front of the Castle up to the old Blue Reef Aquarium building produced only a couple of Oystercatchers, several Black-headed Gulls and a single Great Black-backed Gull, with nothing whatsoever on the choppy sea. A Razorbill and Great Northern Diver had been seen off here recently this week, but nothing like that today.
A strong onshore wind was crashing the waves against the rocks on a dull overcast morning.
I was annoyed to see a lot of dog mess on the new promenade and with a lot of dog owners not having their dogs on leads was quite shocking. OK, they all behaved, but there is always the danger of one rogue dog that could turn nasty. Surely, there should be a law against dogs off leads here? Never mind, the dogs had a good walk and so I decided to try my luck by the harbour entrance at Eastney.
Harbour Entrance, Eastney:
Black-headed Gulls huddled up against the strong southerly wind in Lock Lake.
Sadly, though the sea in Langstone Harbour and the Harbour entrance looked less choppy, the only bird on the water was a distant Cormorant when I got out of the car to check the area. The tide was out within Lock Lake off the spit and waders present were distant Oystercatchers and a few Redshank on the mudflats. I checked the nearest Gulls for a possible Med Gull, but all I could find were Black-headed and Common Gulls on the mudflats. So that was the sole content of my birding this morning and so I headed off home.
A lone Redshank searching for food on the mudflats.
My Garden:
Incredibly, despite the grim weather with drizzly rain now falling and the wind howling, both the female Black Redstart and male Blackcap were present again; the former was perched in the tree behind my garden and the latter was still singing deep within my neighbours tree!
In Hampshire today:
The rough seas in the Solent produced a Gannet, Kittiwake, 2 Common Scoters and a couple of Shags of Barton on Sea this morning. Up to 6 Glossy Ibis were still on the Bridge Street Floods this morning and a flock of 20 Fieldfare were over the Meadows further south. A female type Scaup was on Sinah Warren, Hayling Island, today. Could it have been the bird Andy Fisher and I saw on New Years Day off Budds Farm?
The Great Grey Shrike posed nicely on the heath near Bishop's Dyke.
My goal this weekend was to hopefully see the wintering Great Grey Shrike back at the Beaulieu Road area in the New Forest as well as what else this fabulous place has to offer. The weather played its part by being simply glorious. OK, it was very cold with a heavy frost on the heath and most of the large puddles were frozen over, but an unbroken clear blue sky overhead was what winter birding is all about. The large iced over puddles brought back memories of walking my two boys here many, many years ago. A melancholy moment.
After this location, we were to finish off the day around Blashford Lakes, which also produced a good variety of birds. A total of 8 new bird species for the year were added to my year list today, though it did include a few ‘heards’, of which no doubt I will actually see later in the year.
Cowplain Marsh:
On arrival at Andy Fisher’s house, as I stepped out of the car, my first Siskin of the year flew over my head and headed off westbound. A good start to the day (a Common Buzzard flew over the A3 on the drive up) and a Redwing was calling in nearby woodland. I had already bought a coffee from the local Tesco and some grub for the day before I arrived at Andy’s house and armed with a pile of bird Magazines and leftover Gousto veg, I made my way into Andy’s house to pick up both himself and Geoff.
Shatterford, Beaulieu Road, Bishops Dyke and Denny Wood, New Forest:
A frosty and icy footpath awaited us on our way to view the Shrike.
The long drive to the New Forest was pleasant enough as we arrived at a near empty car park around 9.20am. Some passing birders making their way back to the car park kindly told us that they had seen the Great Grey Shrike earlier and pointed out from where the bird was last located. Making our way to the first Railway Bridge so we could view from both sides of the heath, on our way there, we heard a Crossbill flying over and on reaching the Bridge itself, two superb Crossbills landed in tree nearby, but I could not get a clear photo of the birds with all the branches in the way. I was to get better luck later in the day. A Bullfinch was heard and eventually seen flying over the railway line, which gave Andy another ‘year-tick’.
It was very scenic but perfect birding weather here at Bealieu Road this morning and below, the Conifers that held several Crossbills at Shatterford car park.
Also, a Raven, possibly two birds, was seen high up in one of the Conifers by the Railway Line and quietly ‘cronking’. Nice to see such a showy bird too. Once on the bridge, we looked over the heath looking towards the Pigs Bush area and then Andy found the Great Grey Shrike perched on a tall Alder tree, sitting nicely for us as I set up my scope to get a better view. The bird sat there for some time as another couple of birders joined us to view the bird. It then flew further south to perch on another Alder and then totally disappeared. However, we found the bird again as we walked south into Bishops Dyke, also perched on a small tree, but this time a lot closer than our first views of this gorgeous bird.
Above and below, the Raven was seen 'cronking' by the railway line.
Geoff mentioned the stark fact that there were hardly any passerines on the heath (though I did hear a Meadow Pipit call nearby) and was probably due to the fact that the Shrike had probably eaten them all! It was seen eating a Dunnock earlier in the week and what with the ground so hard and frozen, I should imagine that its only food source would be small birds?
Above, another photo of the showy Raven and below, our first sighting of the Great Grey Shrike of the morning.
Above, we were lucky as the Shrike was getting closer and closer.
Walking west through Bishop’s Dyke, all was very quiet at first, Though the distinctive calls of Crossbills overhead had us searching the sky and we found at least two birds perched up in one of the Conifers. Only a female bird showed well and the other was deep within cover, but this allowed me to grab a few photos of this delightful finch. A Marsh Tit was heard briefly deep within the woodland and a Common Buzzard was seen perched near the big pond which was now obviously frozen over.
Above and below, this female Crossbill showed nicely on top of a tall conifer in Bishop's Dyke.
Above, a Common Buzzard was by the large frozen pool in Bishop's Dyke. Below, we came across many Robins and this one managed to catch a sizable Caterpiller.
Above, this obliging Wren was close by within Denny Wood.
It was fairly quiet walking from Bishop’s Dyke to Denny Wood as we negotiated the wet and soggy footpath to the woodland. More Crossbills were heard and a few Siskins too, but viewing them proved difficult in the bright sunshine. We had a coffee break at the edge of the woodland where we heard both Treecreeper and Nuthatch (first of the year) and another Marsh Tit called briefly (also another first for the year). After a nice break, we headed around the perimeter of the woodland taking in sightings of Stock Doves, Redwings, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldcrest and a pair of Mistle Thrushes. There were a lot of thrushes on the woodland floor, searching the fallen leaves for a possible worm or two, but sadly, no finches were seen among them.
This male Crossbill was picking out seeds from this pine cone in Shatterford car park.
The walk back to Shatterford car park was near birdless, but we did see a male Kestrel flying low over the heath heading towards the Bishop’s Dyke area. On reaching the car park, there were a lot of birders and ‘toggers’ looking up into the Conifers and sure enough, we kind of knew they were looking at Crossbills. I found a gorgeous male bird sitting out in the open in one of the conifers, picking off seeds from the pine cones in the bright sunshine (see photos) that got a lot of attention from the ‘toggers’.
Ibsley Water, Blashford Lakes:
This was the closest Goldeneye that was in front of the Tern Hide during our stay there.
After grabbing some more food from the local garage, we then drove to the Tern Hide to consume our well earned lunch and check out what Ibsley Water had to offer. We were pleased to find the White-fronted Geese grazing on the embankment near the Lapwing Hide. A total of 8 birds were present, though some were hidden by vegetation and it wasn't till something spooked them that a total count was made.
Above, a Grey Wagtail passing the Tern Hide and below, a male Peregrine soaring over Ibsley Water.
A big section of the lake was frozen in front of the Tern Hide and so most of the wildfowl were at the northern end of the lake as expected. A Black-necked Grebe was seen earlier this morning in front of the Goosander Hide, but despite a lengthy search throughout my stay here, we did not see the bird. However, at least ten Goosanders were present among the many other wildfowl and also at least the same number of Goldeneye too. I found at least two Green Sandpipers at the northern end of the lake, searching for food along the shoreline and a Grey Wagtail obligingly was searching for food along the shoreline in front of the Tern Hide.
Above, the hundreds of Gulls scattered when the Peregrine flew over and below, some of the 8 Russian White-fronted Geese over on the embankment.
Above, a pair of Mallard swam close to the ice in front of the Tern Hide.
Raptors were abundant today here from the Tern Hide. A male Marsh Harrier was seen flying over the lake several times and even perched up in one of the Willows to the north of the lake. Both Red Kite and Common Buzzard flew over and a male Peregrine scattered all the Geese and many Gulls as it sailed high overhead. All very entertaining, however, there was a very cold breeze coming into the hide from the open windows (it was too cold for Andy who went outside to sit in the warm sunshine!) and so, Geoff and I made our way out to join him. Andy was talking to fellow Hampshire birder, Gary Fennemore, who kindly told us that he saw the female Red-crested Pochard on nearby Rockford Lake this morning and gave us directions on where to look.
Rockford Lake, Blashford:
Our first Great White Egret of the year flying over Rockford Lake.
Gary had said that it took at least half an hour to find the bird as a lot of Rockford Lake had frozen over and all the wildfowl were gathered together on the remaining free water that was available. Sadly, despite many sweeps through the scope through the hundreds of various ducks present, I could not find the female Red-crested Pochard, but among the many ducks present that included Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Shoveler, Pintail, Pochard, Tufted Duck and Wigeon; there were at least 25 Goosanders among them! Up to 6 Great Crested Grebes swam among them and on the ice itself, a large gathering of Gulls (Herring, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls) were packed together.
This male Goldcrest was searching for insects among the vegetation by Rockford Lake.
While I was busy searching through the wildfowl, the guys were keeping an eye out for any other interesting birds and that included our first Great White Egret of the year. Apparently, a Grey Heron took a dislike to it and chased it off from probably a good fishing spot. A Kingfisher landed close by, but for one reason or another, my camera would not focus on the bird properly on it and so a poor record photo of the bird was the best I could do. I saw probably the same bird on the other side of the lake perched up over the water several times. A Water Rail was a nice surprise as it flew from one small clump of reeds to another right in front of us and a male Goldcrest was searching for food along the perimeter fence some 6 feet away from both Andy and myself.
Above and below, Geoff had found a few Redpolls in the Alders nearby.
Geoff had gone on walkabout, mostly to keep warm as by now, even my toes were getting extremely cold! He came back to tell us that he had found a small flock of Redpolls in a nearby tree. So we all went off to view the birds that were feeding on seeds in a Silver Birch tree to add another species to our year list. Excellent stuff. Sadly, no sighting of the Red-crested Pochard, but a good variety of birds here at Rockford Lake.
The Great Grey Shrike near Bishop's Dyke this morning.
On the way back home, a female Sparrowhawk flew over the motorway to make it our 6th raptor of the day to round off a good day's birding.
