Hampshire (1 Viewer)

[birder of the south]

1 Wheatear Needs Ore this afternoon along with good numbers of Avocet.

 

[amh2029]

I wheatear and a whinchat at Farlington yesterday, plus sedge warblers everywhere (20+). First little tern of the year too. Spoonbill still there - snoozing.

Andrew

 

[birder of the south]

4 wood Warblers in the Forest now! also two Woodlarks, Tree Pipit, Cuckoo and plenty of Redstarts etc

 

[Deer Stalker]

Wood Warblers all over the place on the New Forest now. Saw my first pair of Hobbies of the year today too.
Also around: Goshawk, Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Hawfinch, Firecrest, etc...

 

[John P]

It's all gone a bit quiet here. Where is everyone?

Brief view of a Ringtail Harrier cruising behind Fishtail this morning confirmed a couple of minutes later by two acquaintances as a Montys! (Thanks Stephen and Steve).

Barnacle goose on the Balancing pond, still two Lesser whitethroats down the Ancient highway. Common Sandpiper on Fishtail and at least two Wheatears at Iley point.

 

[cwpbirder]

While on a butterfly trip to see Duke of Burgundy at Noar Hill nr Selborne this morning (3+ seen) - a Tree Pipit song flighting and a distant Turtle Dove calling.

 

[pdwinter]

Keyhaven

It's all gone a bit quiet here. Where is everyone?

It was so quiet at Keyhaven I guessed they were all off daylisting!

Can only add 2 Med Gulls over Iley point and singles of Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit at Pennington Lagoon. There was a Canada goose with an arrow through its neck at the upper balancing pond (aka Iley Lake). It was walking about feeding fine so I guess the arrow missed anything important.

The Barnacle Goose was flying with a CG just northwest of the Balancing Pond c5pm.

Cheers

 

[scary-canary]

This is great, if you haven't already seen it.


http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/newforest/goshawk_live_nest_cam/

 

[amh2029]

Farlington pretty quiet today and a chill sea breeze meant I was glad I had my woolly hat! Yellow wagtail, wheatears, and a couple of very close-up LRPs was the best of an otherwise very ordinary trip.

 

[teamsaint]

Lots of stuff moving all over the country today.

We have Icterine Warbler at Sandy Point

Temminck's on Ibsley

Black Terns at Ibsley, Weston Shore, Titchfield

Curlew Sand and Wood Sand at Pennington


I'm going away this weekend without birding so will probably miss the best weekend of the year! Anyway good birding guys

 

[pdwinter]

Shatterford 17/05

While trying to avoid the worst of the wind today we came across a Nightjar at Shatterford - only the seond time I've seen one during the day in Britain. Not surprisingly little else was showing out on the heath.

 

[Johnny Allan]

Hi there,

I'm trying to find out which Counties still use the Watsonian Vice County system to record birds in and which go by whatever the political boundary may change to (and why).

The Watsonian Vice County system was set to accurately record and compare historical and modern data and it seems that there can be/is confusion when some counties no longer use this system whilst others do. Does anyone in your county have a view on this ? Discussion here if anyone has a comment:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=142074

ps this is not about getting more or less county ticks, more a question about uniformity in recording.

Johnny Allan

 

[skatebirder]

Shatterford-Denny Wood

Lots of the usual suspects in the New Forest today:
Hobbies everywhere, 6 in the air together at one point
Buzzards
Redstarts
Spotted Flycatcher
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (at last!)
Dartford Warbler 2+ (one singing, one calling)

David

 

[teamsaint]

A great morning for Goshawks in the Forest this morning. Had 10 sightings, although I can't say for sure that there were any more than 2 birds. Also a single Hobby and lots of Buzzards, but no Honeys. And Cuckoo (male + female heard), Woodlark and Crossbill.

Lee Evans reports seeing Honeys yesterday on hoslist, but whether that was Acres Down or another part of the forest I don't know. He also reports finding 3 pairs of Montagu's Harrier on 'the downland'.

Red-rumped Swallow reported in Eastleigh and Bishopstoke.

 

[amh2029]

Hobby and a cuckoo in the same tree at Beaulieu Rd yesterday (first of the year for both) - sounds like I should have gone to acres down.

 

[Jon Turner]

Went down to Hayling oyster beds this afternoon to check out the Little Terns, sadly I didn't see any! Not sure if this is because there aren't any this year or perhaps the vile weather - cold strong west wind - meant they were elsewhere?

Anyone know where they are? Or do I just go back when the weather improves?

Jon

 

[skatebirder]

New Forest Nights

A bit late posting - but I had a nice evening in the New Forest on Sunday, where I was joined by two thirds of the DanSamRobbie trio. Saw four Hobbies hunting for insects at dusk as a Lapwing shouted at something it didn't like from a nearby field. They were joined by an unidentified bat and a Cuckoo (one seen of several heard). As the sun disappeared and my night-sight failed to work (getting old!) the sounds of the Forest at night made up for it all - Tawny Owls hooting, a Woodcock squeaking, many Marsh (?) Frogs making otherworldly noises from the swamp. Then the Nightjars joined in, churring away so close at times that it seemed certain we were within a few metres of them, but they remained invisible. Eventually, when it was too dark to see anything but silhouettes, a Nightjar started calling, flew over our heads and then circled round, clapping its wings - a fantastic sound and not remotely "like a Woodpigeon" as one of my companions suggested!
As we decided to leave the see-saw notes of a distant Snipe were replaced by the altogether more eerie sound of a Snipe drumming somewhere above us. The walk back to the cars was still full of sound as Nightjars and frogs joined together in a bizarre chorus. There were still other strange calls from the heath which none of us managed to identify. A great evening in the Forest, even if we didn't really SEE much. And anyone who says that these birds "don't count" if we only heard them, obviously hasn't got a clue!

 

[JohnnyH]

Spent a very pleasant day down in the Forest today birding at a leisurely pace. Highlights were 2 Wood Warbler, lots of Redstart, a small party of Marsh Tits, & Goshawk. Also heard Firecrest but sadly too high in the canopy to see.

John.

 

[John P]

The one that got away?

After a lengthy and increasingly hot walk around Keyhaven today I got back to the car, tired and no longer too much bothered about birds, sat in the boot (estate) having a drink, had a scan around with the scope over the harbour reedbed and picked up what looked like a very distant Heron in the heat haze, it must have been a couple of miles away.

Might as well watch that as anything else I thought as it travelled West, at one point it turned and I could see the colour of the plumage , only problem now is that the colouration was perfect for Gannet, all white with black wingtips, at this point it disappeared behind the trees at Efford and never reappeared.

I can only assume it was a Crane unless anyone has any other suggestions.

 

[amh2029]

Went down to Hayling oyster beds this afternoon to check out the Little Terns, sadly I didn't see any! Not sure if this is because there aren't any this year or perhaps the vile weather - cold strong west wind - meant they were elsewhere?

Anyone know where they are? Or do I just go back when the weather improves?

Jon

Quite a few at farlington, and at least four at fishtail lagoon, keyhaven last week.