Slimbridge WWT - 23rd December

On a beautiful sunny day I spent a couple of hours at Slimbridge WWT between my Christmas chores. I spent my time along the east side of the reserve. From the Rushy Hide there were nine Snipe, 12 Bewick's Swan and good numbers of Pochard and Tufted Duck. Out on the marsh there were large numbers of Lapwing, Golden Plover, 53 Bewick's Swan, 22 Ruff, two Common Crane and large numbers of Wigeon, Pintail and Teal. I then visited the rather stunning new Estuary Tower Hide when on the estuary were eight Pink-footed Goose and 56 Barnacle Goose. It was soon time to head off for my Christmas shopping duties.

My ebird checklist can be viewed here.

Bewick Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Eurasian Teal - Slimbridge WWT

Northern Lapwing - Slimbridge WWT

Northern Lapwing - Slimbridge WWT

Northern Lapwing - Slimbridge WWT

Northern Lapwing - Slimbridge WWT

Shelduck - Slimbridge WWT

Lapwing, Golden Plover and Bewisk's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Golden Plover - Slimbridge WWT

Common Crane - Slimbridge WWT

Common Crane - Slimbridge WWT

Tufted Duck - Slimbridge WWT

Barnacle Goose - Slimbridge WWT

Blue Tit - Slimbridge WWT

Pennington Marsh - 5th and 9th March

I visited Pennington Marsh on 5th and 9th March and on both days saw much the same. Its a pretty static time of year with winter birds steadily but barely noticeably declining and very few migrants appearing. The Lapwing are now in regular display and are busy making nesting scrapes on the marsh while Black-tailed Godwit are coming into plumage and are at varying stages of turning rusty. Up to eight Ruff were present on the marshes off Lower Pennington Lane and there remain good numbers of Wigeon, Pintail, Teal and Brent Goose as well as the usual waders. There were around 400 Golden Plover on Pennington Marsh on both days, an increase in previous numbers perhaps as a result of the recent cold weather movement. On 5th I counted 34 Bar-tailed Godwit off Butts Lagoon, a higher number than usual, all were still in winter plumage. On 5th a single Spoonbill flew high to the east.

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck, wing coverts, tertials and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on tertials - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with very little sign of moult to summer plumage - Pennington Marsh

Ruff - Pennington Marsh

Golden Plover - Pennington Marsh

Rock Pipit - Pennington Marsh

The Mute Swan were very feisty at the marsh today with marsh territorial aggression - Pennington Marsh

I added a number of sound recordings to this post linked to uploads at the Internet Bird Collection (IBC). With the subsequent transfer of data from IBC to the Macaulay Library the links to these became broken. I have therefore subsequently uploaded these sound files to eBird and the recordings can be viewed here and here.

Denny Wood - 13th March

I have been absolutely wiped out by a nasty chest infection this week but still have had to face work which has been pretty tough, come Friday though and a doctors followed by hospital appointment I threw in the towel and took much of the day off. I am not one to sit at home and revel in illness and I sought fresh air and some space. So i decided to have a gentle potter around Denny Wood with my camera, not hoping to see much but more just to relax into the open air. There were around six Hawfinch in the area, perhaps 50 or so Redwing many in full song and Dartford Warbler showed okay on the heath but it was just a pleasure to be out and see some common woodland birds.

Blue Tit must surely be on the top of peoples want list when they travel to Europe from overseas, absolutely stunning little birds just a little under appreciated because they are so common

Great Tit

Marsh Tit

Nuthatch

Pied Wagtail

Chaffinch

Treecreeper

Dartford Warbler

Bratley Plain and Eyeworth Pond - 7th February

The first time I visited the Bratley Plain/Kings Garden area of the New Forest was on 2nd January with Trev when we failed to locate a Great Grey Shrike that had been present. So with reports of the bird there again on 6th February I decided to have another crack at the bird today. In a still bitter north-easterly and with much of the water on the heath frozen, I walked the exposed ridgeline southwards from the carpark at Milkham Inclosure to the main path that passes east to west from Bratley Inclosure to Kings Garden and from here I chose a high spot to scan across Bratley Plain and Buckherd Bottom. After some scanning and very few birds I spotted a grey dot in a bush about 500m to the north-west in the Hawthorn bushes flanking Roe Inclosure, through binoculars I couldn't decide whether this was a lump of lichen or some litter but then the wind shifted the branches and I could just about visualise what could be the Great Grey Shrike so I headed back north from my view point and onto the main path back towards Milkham Inclosure and as I walked I periodically stopped and scanned and eventually I was certain I had the shrike. When I was about 200m away I stopped and ran of some photographs and that was it, the bird flew, gained height, hovered over the thorn patch and flew way into the distance before dropping into Buckherd Bottom. I contemplated chasing it but surveyed the terrain and decided against it. I checked the thorn bush where it had been sitting to see if it was a regularly used perch and found numerous droppings beneath  and then noticed a small bird, possibly a Robin impaled on a thorn - this was the first time I had found a shrikes larder in the UK.

Great Grey Shrike perched distantly in a Hawthorn bush

Great Grey Shrike hovering before flying off into the distance

The shrikes larder, I suspect this is a Robin 

View across the heath to Buckherd Bottom, this is an extensive area of heathland. The shrike flew from this position to just beyond the middle ridge visible in the left of the photograph

New Forest Ponies

I decided to head back to the car as the time was pushing on, I cut through Kings Garden and Milkham Inclosure birding as I went, it was fairly quite but with many of the common birds now in territorial song, a sign of an approaching spring. I watched a Great-spotted Woodpecker feeding in a Scot's Pine often clinging to the outer limbs and investigating the needle clusters. A Raven passed overhead and Siskin called from the trees.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Raven

With a couple of spare minutes I decided to pull into the carpark at Eyeworth Pond to try to get some shots of Marsh Tit, this is a good area for the species as the public put down seed and they allow close approach but other than some fleeting glimpses they were not performing today. The Mandarin Duck showed well, with 11 birds present in the only unfrozen area of water on the pond. I watched the feeders for a while and then had a sudden feeling of being a bit of a dude watching plastic ducks and Blue Tits - it was time to head home.

Mandarin Ducks on ice

Blue Tit on a lichen and moss covered Oak