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Hello from Southampton (1 Viewer)

wint

wint

member
I've been lurking for some time so I thought I'd better post a hello. I spend most of my birding time on my local patch, Lower Test Marshes, on the edge of Southampton. Apart from occasional visits to the Hampshire coast my only other birding these days is in Spain.

Paul
----
Paul Winter
 
Hi Paul,

A warm welcome to BirdForum from all the Admin and Moderators. Glad you decided to Say Hello and I hope we see more from you in the future. Tell us about your local patch.
 
Hi Paul, welcome to Birdforum. Always good when a 'lurker' (I prefer 'guest' ;) says hello. A nice patch of Hampshire and Spain, sounds enough to keep most birders happy.
Regards,
Andy
 
wint said:
I've been lurking for some time so I thought I'd better post a hello. I spend most of my birding time on my local patch, Lower Test Marshes, on the edge of Southampton. Apart from occasional visits to the Hampshire coast my only other birding these days is in Spain.

Paul
----
Paul Winter
Click to expand...

Hi Paul,

nice to see someone else from Southampton. What part of Southampton are you in?

Faith
 
Faith said:
Hi Paul,

nice to see someone else from Southampton. What part of Southampton are you in?

Faith
Click to expand...
Hi Faith

I'm about 30 metres outside the Southampton boundary - in Rownhams. it seemed like the countryside in 1984 but now it's just part of the urban sprawl!

Paul
 
wint said:
I've been lurking for some time so I thought I'd better post a hello.
Click to expand...

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum. Glad to see you've joined us and I look forward to reading your reports.

How is the birding in S'ton and Alora going? Things are becoming quieter here in Donana now that full summer is upon us, much hotter than when you were here in early June.

The Marabou Stork that we found on the 7th of June remained at the same location until my last sighting of it on the 29th of the month. Altogether I saw it on 8 occasions, each time with other clients, so a good number of people got to record this European rarity and add another "lifer" to their lists.

Regards from Donana.

John.
 
robinm said:
Hi Paul,

A warm welcome to BirdForum from all the Admin and Moderators. Glad you decided to Say Hello and I hope we see more from you in the future. Tell us about your local patch.
Click to expand...
Robin

Thanks for the welcome.

My patch is based around Hampshire Wildlife Trust's Lower Test nature reserve. This is an area of mixed habitats, including reedbeds and saltmarsh where Southampton Water meets the River Test. Just to the south of the reserve is Eling Great Marsh and there is also a new reserve just to the north - Testwood Lakes - which is bounded to the north by the M27 motorway. My patch extends north of the M27 following the Test Way footpath through woodland and farmland. I have walked the whole patch in one day but not often!

The patch does not attract rare birds often (Great White Egret 2003 and White-Rumped Sandpiper 2002 are the only BB rarities I remember recently) but is as good a site as any in Hampshire for scarce species such as Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Crake, Water Pipits and breeding Cetti's Warblers. Being a major river, it is also good for fly through/overs such as Osprey, Red Kite and Marsh Harrier. There are large numbers of wildfowl in winter (mostly Wigeon) and in July/August it's the #1 spot in Hampshire for Yellow-legged Gulls (max 169 last year).

Better information about the area can be found at the following:-
http://www.hwt.org.uk/lowertest.pdf
http://www.hants.gov.uk/hos/sitesdirectory/site05.html
http://www.hwt.org.uk/testwoodlakes.pdf

Paul
 
Hi Paul and Faith,
Lower Test is my local too, although I'm quite new to the area and haven't been down there that often. Off to keyhaven and pennington marshes tomorrow. Maybe bump into you down LT sometime. I'm surprised there isn't a southampton bird group...?
Andrew
 
amh2029 said:
Hi Paul and Faith,
Lower Test is my local too, although I'm quite new to the area and haven't been down there that often. Off to keyhaven and pennington marshes tomorrow. Maybe bump into you down LT sometime. I'm surprised there isn't a southampton bird group...?
Andrew
Click to expand...

According to my 2003 Birdwatcher's Handbook, the Hampshire Ornithological Society and the Southampton & District Bird Group are in Southampton (or rather their contact people live in the area).
 
amh2029 said:
Hi Paul and Faith,
Lower Test is my local too, although I'm quite new to the area and haven't been down there that often. Off to keyhaven and pennington marshes tomorrow. Maybe bump into you down LT sometime. I'm surprised there isn't a southampton bird group...?
Andrew
Click to expand...

Hi Andrew. If you are new to the area, I would definitely recommend a trip to Titchfield Haven sometime. I have been told that Roseate Terns have been seen there recently, even though as yet, I haven't had a chance to go and look myself yet.
 
Ah ... Southampton. My native city & where I cut my birding teeth as it were. In those days, the 1960s, there were still Cirl Buntings on the Common and going to Tauntons School meant we could watch 'em at lunch time. The Common then also had Hawfinch - are they still there? Lesser Spot was another tick I had there (and what was almost certainly an autumn Rose-coloured Starling). Titchfield Haven was my first 'real' birding site & where I found a Little Bittern. Catching the bus from Sholing to Titchfield & walking down the valley to meet 'Doc' Suffern was my introduction to birding. The Lower Test Marshes were visited but seemed to have few birds. Collared Dove we twitched at nearby Ealing. Busing over to Keyhaven brought me into contact with Eddie Wiseman - is he still about? How I remember popping over to his caravan & seeing the note Black Stork over some enclosure in the New Forest & seeing it the following day. As for societies, I do hope that the Southampton Natural History Society is still going strong. I vividly recall a trip to Nursling GPs (near Rownhams) with them and twitching LRP & Garganey there. George Green (whose Dorset avifauna is due out soon) was another Soton birder of that era and one who gave me many a lift down to Portland Bill. I also recall busing over to Lordswood to vist fellow Tauntonian Phil Gregory (now a professional bird guide in Oz) & looking for Grasshopper Warbler & Nightjar then catching the last bus (11.30?) back to Sholing. Before I grow too nostalgic, I must confess that Kent (where I now reside) is a far better county for birding - any Soton based birders heading this way are welcome to contact me for advice/help, John
 
I love Southampton. I love living here and love the fact that we have the best of all worlds here: a pleasant city, the countryside right on our doorstep, the sea, the ships, the birds and Southampton FC (The Pride of the South Coast)! I can also get over to the Isle of Wight fairly easily to meet relatives and friends as well (except when the ferry company rip me off £46.50 to take my car over there on a day return :storm: ).
 
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