Patchwatching

Town Quay

2012-01-31T19:48:00.001Z

I thought perhaps my chance of seeing the local Glaucous Gull has gone with me being in Spain on day 1 and picking up the cat on day 2. I had to wait an hour this morning before Simon Harthill picked it out for me. it disappeared while we were looking at the images on my camera and, from goingbirding, had flown north towards Eling.

El Chorro 26/1/12

2012-01-30T06:53:00.004Z

On thursday we ate our lunch at the Mirador at the embalses and then walked up to what is known as 'the Saddle'. It started well with two Rock Buntings at the mirador itself and then more as we walked up. Perhaps the best bird was a splendid Ring Ouzel - a spanish tick for me - but the 25+ Black Redstarts and even more Griffon Vultures might disagree.

A description of the walk can be found at the Finca Limoneros site - here's the view when you get there (you'll probably have to take your own wife!)

Spanish practices

2012-01-29T21:00:00.001Z

Just back from a week in Spain - mostly wall to wall sunshine but with one tremendous storm. Before the storm I saw this weevil at the Guadalhorce rivermouth. (Update: Weevil now identified as Lixus angistatus by isidoro on the Iberian Nature forum - c.60000 weevil species apparently!)

I had hoped for Bonelli's Eagle but had to settle for several pale phase Booted Eagles.
From the balcony I counted 214 Little Egrets going to roost between 18:30 and 19:00 on 23rd - yet to see one from my Rownhams home.

A quiet weekend

2012-01-16T06:57:00.001Z

The weekend started with a Webs count (14/1) of low numbers at Broadlands Lakes with just Mallard and Tufted as the duck species and only a handful of coot. At least there were 8 Great Crested grebes with 2 pairs displaying.

A brief stop at Testwood Lake on the way back produced a pair of Goosander - lucky timing as they flew off within three minutes of me arriving.

I arrived at Eling where Dave Holt was looking at a Whimbrel on the closest mud on EGM and I then walked up through Bury Wood to see the Black-throated Diver. I had hoped for Marsh Tit but as compensation there was a Firecrest near Bury Farm. The Black-throated Diver was in among the yachts as usual.

During a circuit at Shatterford in the afternoon we came across the Great Grey Shrike close to Denny Lodge Inclosure.

On Sunday I went down to Redbridge Wharf to look through the gulls at low tide. As usual most of them had flown past my house by the time I got there! There was a fem/juv Goldeneye, my first of the winter, which took my patch list for the year to 81 species. The Black-throated Diver got as close as the beginning of Redbridge Channel but must have turned back as I didn't see it again. During an afternoon walk around Pig Bush/Frame Inclosure we saw two Crossbills, the male looking particularly smart in the sunshine at the top of a tree, and also two Ravens.

Awash with Auks

2012-01-08T18:13:00.000Z

Until late morning today (8th Jan) I'd not seen an auk on the patch. I first picked out a Guillemot in the swinging ground moving slowly down towards Eling. I then walked back through Bury Wood stopping about midway and could see a bird heading south, diving, over by the container port which I assumed was the Guillemot. When I came out of the wood I could see that the Guillemot had drifted closer to Eling so I checked the other Auk and it turned out to be a Razorbill. When I re-scoped the Guillemot the Black-throated Diver was just behind it at the start of Redbridge Channel.

I managed a poor record shot of the Guillemot but the Razorbill was too busy diving to help me.

Now 73 for the patch this year.

Patch 2012 - 57 up

2012-01-02T17:26:00.001Z

After a poor effort in 2011 with only 127 (bird) species seen on the patch I've been out on the southern end of the patch (Eling/Bury and Bartley Water) on the first two days of 2012.I saw 53 species today (missing Raven, Whimbrel and Buzzard reported by others) with another four species seen only on Jan 1st. The best birds from a patch perspective were the almost long-staying Black-throated Diver and a Mandarin.The Black-throat didn't show this morning but in a short visit this afternoon a birder with a scope kindly told me it was by the large black container ship and, after a short wait, I did see it and it started moving towards Redbridge Channel. Too far for any pics but I managed a record shot of the Mandarin in the afternoon sun.

Black-throated Diver 29/12/2011

2011-12-29T14:12:00.002Z

On Tuesday I caught up with the Black-throated Diver (in its first-winter) by Eling Wharf - my 180th species for the patch. Yesterday I found it on the rising tide idling around the swinging ground at Bury. Today it was almost at the Tide mill when I arrived just after 10am. Its proximity would have allowed decent photographs but for the abysmal light. It then moved back up to the swinging ground where Andy Collins and I watched it while we enjoyed the rain.

¡Feliz Navidad!

2011-12-25T15:37:00.001Z

My annual trip to pick up my aunt in Gosport via the Cockle pond was lucky this year. The tide was rising and the Ring-billed Gull was present along the path between the pond and the boating lake.I managed to get a good shot of the spread wing. It might help people who haven't yet seen it - when added to it being bigger and paler than the Common Gulls and having a pale iris.

December Darter

2011-12-03T16:23:00.001Z

Not the latest ever for Hampshire but certainly a late date for me by a couple of weeks were these Common Darters at Tucker's Bridge pond today (3rd December). There were at least five adults including two pairs ovipositing - one at the pond itself and another into a very small grassy puddle. There was no sign of any Southern Hawkers today.

Later Southern Hawker

2011-11-27T16:44:00.001Z

At Tucker's Bridge pond at lunchtime today (27/11/11) the first dragonfly we came across was a male Southern Hawker sunning himself on the edge of the pond. While Elaine watched him I walked along the northern side, disturbing six Common Darters and then coming across an ovipositing female Southern Hawker. She was soon spotted by another male who whisked her off to a tree for copulation.

These Southern Hawker sightings are three weeks later than my previous latest date of November 6 2004. Unfortunately the first frosts locally are forecast for tonight.

Late Southern Hawker

2011-11-20T17:26:00.001Z

At lunchtime on 20th November there were still nine Common Darters, including an ovipoisiting pair, and a male Southern Hawker at Tucker's Bridge Pond. These are my latest ever Hampshire sightings for both species.

Minor earthquake at the coast

2011-11-14T07:23:00.001Z

To the tune of "Sailing"

No one likes us,no one likes us

No one likes us, we don't care!

We are Needs Ore, super Needs Ore

We are Needs Ore from the (location suppressed, Ed)!

11-spot

2011-11-14T06:52:00.001Z

On Saturday 11th I was standing with the roar of the A35 behind my back at Redbridge scanning the birds on the marsh with Simon King. A small ladybird arrived on the fence next to us and we attempted to ID it (by taking a photo). I'm pretty sure it's an 11-spot but if I've got it wrong please let me know. The top shot is the full image (600mm equiv at c.1m) resized - to give some idea of the size - and the lower the 600x450 crop from the centre of the image - so you can actually see the detail!

2011-11-13T18:00:00.001Z

If you had been standing with this vista on Thursday 10th you would have good views of a Common Crane. David Holland and I saw it from some distance the other side of the central tree - only getting adequate views to Id it once it gained enough height to cirlce low above the tree. It soon disappeared west towards Ower. As far as I know subsequent searches have failed to relocate it - mine certainly did!Yesterday (12th) there was a Migrant Hawker hunting round the scrape at Lower Test and today (13th) there were still 2 Southern Hawkers at Tucker's Bridge Pond. These were latest ever dates for me but there's still some way to go to beat the Hants last dates.

Imperfection

2011-10-29T18:31:00.001+01:00

This is one of my sharper images but unfortunately the dragonfly (female Broad Scarlet) is not in such good shape.

October 23rd

2011-10-24T06:41:00.001+01:00

We found a hunting Migrant Hawker and one (possibly two) Common Darters along Iley Lane but the strong winds meant nothing was found on the Lower Pennington ponds. We then visited Tucker's Bridge Pond (near Woodfidley Crossing) which was much less windy and extremely pleasant in the late autum. Here there were two Common Darters basking on logs and five male Southern Hawkers patrolling the pond. After a clash one ended up in the water and struggled to get out but after a few minutes he got into the position below and after a further rest managed to launch himself and then landed in a small birch where he was still resting when we left.

15th/16th October

2011-10-18T07:04:00.001+01:00

Having not managed to see a Red Kite this year I decided that we should take advantage of the fine autumn weather on saturday and visit the Hants/Berks border. The only disappointing part was that, for some inexplicable reason, I didn't take my camera as Red Kites moved by slowly and closely!On Sunday we walked a circuit of Pennington / Keyhaven finding 11 Migrant Hawkers and a few more Common Darters. Again I forgot to take the camera so here's an image of a Migrant from last year.

October 9th dragons

2011-10-10T12:45:00.003+01:00

As might be expected at this time of year visits to Pennington and Badminston produced 10 Migrant Hawkers and about 50 Common Darters.

I also saw four Common Blue Damselflies including this one which has an interesting pattern on the antehumeral stripe.

Crimson Speckled

2011-10-06T06:29:00.004+01:00

I noticed from Atropos that a few of these have been seen recently in the UK. This one is from the Embalse del Guadalhorce on the one non-sunny day of our recent visit to Spain.

Autumn Dragonflies

2011-10-02T17:04:00.006+01:00

A pleasant sunday lunchtime picnic at Tucker's Bridge Pond produced seven Southern Hawkers (including one female not spotted by the males) and about 20 Common darters. Activity slowed by about 13:45.

We then moved on to Pennington where the dragonflies we found were nine Migrant Hawkers, a few Common Darters and male and female Blue-tailed Damselflies - the latter my latest ever.

Indian summer

2011-09-29T05:54:00.005+01:00

I'm returning to working a five-day week from next Monday so I took advantage of the Indian summer yesterday (28th) to look for dragonflies. I saw only six species during the day including my latest ever Blue-tailed Damselfly and a few Common Blue damselflies. Just two Southern Hawkers were seen with, as might be expected at this time of year, around 20 Migrant Hakwers and 70 Common Darters.

Since returning from Spain on sunday I've been checking the web to see if there had been any continental migrants with no reports found so it was a nice surprise when I saw a female Red-veined Darter at Badminston. There were possibly two. I saw one at 10:50 which disappeared over a bank after I had taken a distant photo and then it or another was in vegetation at a small pool around noon. I looked again later with another dragonflyer but we couldn't relocate it.

More from Malaga

2011-09-26T11:29:00.008+01:00

Southern Skimmer Orthetrum brunneum at Arroyo de Las Cañas (another lifer!)

(Northern) Banded Groundling Brachythemis impartita female at Paraje Naturale Desembocadura del Guadalhorce

Epaulet Skimmer Orthetrum chrysostigma female next to Campo de Golf

Lesser Emperor Anax parthenope male next to Campo de Golf

Last but not least the best looking sympetrum - immature male Red-veined Darter Sympetrum fonscolombii

Orange-winged Dropwing

2011-09-26T11:15:00.004+01:00

The Orange-winged Dropwing Trithemis kirbyi is now well established in Malaga Province and I managed to get some shots of non adult males on this visit.

An old male

Immature male

Another immature male

Female

Black Perchers

2011-09-26T10:58:00.004+01:00

A new species for me on a visit to the Campo de Golf drainage channel was Black Percher Diplacodes lefebvrii.

The male was a feisty little thing - rather like a Black Darter but with obvious open venation, pale appendages and long pterostigmas.

The female was even smaller - probably only an inch long.

Southern Darter

2011-09-26T10:52:00.005+01:00

A visit to Laguna Redonda (Campillos) on 19th September found the laguna to be bone dry. With birds completely absent I took a short walk along the edgeside vegetation and found this splendid Southern Darter Sympetrum meridionale. This was a new species for me - I always struggle to find sympetrums other than Red-veined.

Long Skimmers

2011-09-26T10:31:00.004+01:00

In June I stopped to look at a drainage channel at the eastern end of the Campo de Golf between Malaga and Torremolinos. It looked promising so I paid three visits between 22nd and 24th September.

After several years of obtaining poor distant record shots of Long Skimmer Orthetrum trinacria at the nearby Paraje Naturale Desembocadura del Guadalhorce this new site paid dividends.

The males are more difficult to approach so this was the best shot I obtained.

The females were more approachable.

Terns

2011-09-12T12:45:00.005+01:00

Strong winds and blustery showers brought terns to what HWT are now calling Lower Test Valley (combination of Lower Test and Testwood Lakes). On Saturday morning 3 Common Terns headed south over the A35 while I watched Lower Test from the old bridges. In the afternoon there was a juvenile Arctic with 6 Common Terns on Little Testwood Lake and by Sunday morning there were 12 terns including 2 juvenile Arctic flying around LTL in the showers.

Badminston GP

2011-09-07T17:31:00.008+01:00

Badminston Gravel Pit had remarkably good numbers of odonata given yesterday's rain and the still windy conditions. I counted 87 Common Darters including 21 ovipositing females - all but one in tandem. Of damselflies there were 15 Common Blue and one Blue-tailed. Large dragonflies consisted of six male Migrant Hawkers, a male Emperor and also an ovipositing female Southern Hawker which I first saw at 10:37 and then again around 12:30 when I took the photo.

On the bird front were four Wheatears, a Green Sandpiper, a Redshank and four Red-legged Partridges.

Slim pickings

2011-09-03T21:29:00.003+01:00

Under grey skies, a walk around the northern end of my local patch started promisingly with good numbers of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers moving with tit flocks through the trees in Mill Lane. Unfortunately that was the most bird activity of the morning. I did see a Common Sandpiper and a Kingfisher at the bend in the river at Bonemill before returning to watch Usain Bolt.

The one thing I did notice was the vast number of berries - the thrushes will have a good autumn.

I think the image is of Ichneumon stramentarius - there were several on the Tesco bank in Nursling.

Autumn dragons

2011-09-02T06:35:00.004+01:00

I took a one hour stroll on Southampton Common yesterday (1/9/11) in what were the best conditions for dragonflies I've been out in for some while. In an hour I can walk along woodland rides to the Boating Lake and spend about 20 minutes looking along the concrete edges and the surface weed. The walk there and back produced two male Southern Hawkers hunting and two female Common Darters perched well away from waterside males. The lake itself was disappointing for a warm sunny day with only about 20 Common Blue Damselflies and four male Common Darters. There was a tandem pair of red-eyed damsels in flight over the lake surface but I wouldn't like to say if they were najas or viridulum.

There were only the adult Little Grebes on the lake.

Winter signs for Real

2011-08-31T20:54:00.007+01:00

Well it's as likely as 95% of the reported transfer deals being rushed through on deadline day.

There was some unexpected sun this afternoon so I visited Cadnam Common where there were three territorial male Black Darters - and no doubt more on the boggy central island. A male Emperor was patrolling and a male Southern Hawker put in a brief appearance. Common darters were, not unexpectedly, the predominant species.

Before and after the visit to the pond I watched the birds from the old bridge at Lower Test but gull numbers were low - I could see just 3 Yellow-legged. Unfortunately there was no sign of the Osprey - the image is from last weekend as it returned to dine in a pylon on Eling Great Marsh.

Hawkers

2011-08-14T18:29:00.005+01:00

We decided to have a walk around Denny Wood and Parkhill Inclosure this afternoon in an attempt to avoid the strong winds that battered us yesterday around Pennington / Keyhaven. Apart from me actually hearing Wood Crickets and seeing numerous Redstarts, the highlights were three Southern Hawkers and one Migrant Hawkers. The photo is one from last Sunday at Cadnam Common - today's didn't stop as they hawked insects around the trees.

Lesser Emperor

2011-08-03T19:33:00.009+01:00

Lesser Emperor is a rare dragonfly in Hampshire and I thought I'd missed my chance to see the latest visitor. Fortunately the Ellingham Pound male was reported again on monday so, after broadband fixed by Virgin, I headed west. Almost the first dragonfly I saw was the Lesser tangling with a (Blue) Emperor and it immediately disappeared for 40 minutes. It's re-appearance lasted about as long but at 13:30 it put on a good show, patrolling the south bank for about 10 minutes at a time. Sorry the picture's poor but I would not have been able to get closer without it flying.

On the way back I stopped off at Holmsley for Southern Damselfly.

I then tried Tucker's Bridge Pond where I managed this shot of a male Small Red.

Not a bad day - 19 species in total.

Red-veined Darter

2011-08-01T18:19:00.007+01:00

I decided to take another walk on the Common at lunchtime as we are going to be extremely busy for the rest of the week with a major upgrade. To the east of the boating lake I came across this female Southern Hawker which obligingly landed for a snap.

At the boating lake itself there were at least 10 Small Red-eyed Damselflies including 4 ovipositing (not the 3 I wrote elsewhere!). There was a darter which I initially thought was striolatum but when it had finished sparring with a Black-tailed Skimmer and came over to the edge to land I could pick out the creamy white face. Not a great photo but you can see the diagnostic pale pterostigmas bordered thickly with black of a male Red-veined Darter.

Sun at last

2011-07-30T21:04:00.005+01:00

We eventually got a period of sun which coincided with a day off and lasted for hours rather than minutes. Although a little late in the afternoon we had a look at the ponds in Lower Pennington and managed to see our first Ruddy Darter of the year.

Southampton Common 25/7

2011-07-25T17:44:00.003+01:00

Took advantage of the fine weather today and walked to the boating and Ornamental lakes on Southampton Common. I managed to pick out one Small Red-eyed Damselfly (and one red-eyed) on the boating lake and there was an old male Golden-ringed Dragonfly just to the north of the Ornamental Lake.

Emer Bog

2011-07-23T17:51:00.003+01:00

Tried unsuccessfully for Ruddy Darter again today at Emer Bog but I did come across resting male Southern Hawker and Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

Latchmore Brook

2011-07-14T23:30:00.006+01:00

I arrived at Ogdens around 09:50 - far too early for dragonflies but the waather was too good to waste. Walking eastwards along the stream fom the carpark I found first a Beautiful Demoiselle in a sunny section and a few minutes later a Southern Hawker hunting along the trees of the brook. There was little activity at this time of the day so I pushed on to the beginning of the best area (c.SU 1906 1270) noting two Golden-ringed Dragonflies and a few Large Red and Azure Damselflies along the way and a Common Darter at the crossing point.

As soon as I crossed the stream to the north bank Keeled Skimmers appeared, very active even at 10:30. It was still too early for Scarce Blue-tails so I followed the little stream which runs parallel with the brook and here the first Southern Damselflies appeared (10:45). I counted 38 in total but no doubt many more were hiding on the leeward side of the vegetation out of sight.

The first Small Red Damselflies were in this area including this male with mites.

A couple of Broad-bodies Chasers were active at the pool south of Gypsy Hollies and several more Goldenrings were active along the streams but I saw no new species for the day until 12:25 when I came across two male and one female Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies in the 'concrete circle' area. About 13:45, when it had warmed up, there were three more males in the usual area.

I walked up what I assume is Lay Gutter Valley to c. SU 1901 1310 where there is the first of three pools formed by the stream running down. Here there were male and female Emperors, a few Emerald and Azure Damselflies and a Four-spotted Chaser as well as the 10s/100s of Keeled Skimmers. There were several more Golden-ringed including this obliging male.

The final (15th) new species of the visit (and year for me) was a Brown Hawker hunting along the tree tops not far east of the Ogdens car park.

I stopped off at a couple of locations on the way back adding Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle and Black-tailed Skimmer to my day list of 19 species.

Hanging on

2011-07-06T22:03:00.005+01:00

It seemed quite pleasant when I left home for Slufters pond but as I walked from Milkham car park I realised that the winds were Force 5 possibly 6. I did manage to find a few dragonflies tucked out of the wind such as they could. this immature male was my first Black Darter of the year. Slufters Inclosure was more sheltered with 7 maled Keeled Skimmers on territory along the stream.

Intervalos nubosos

2011-06-30T06:55:00.001+01:00

In Spain they use the weather term Intervalos nubosos "cloudy intervals" rather than our "sunny intervals" which I presume is because they expect it to be sunny. Yesterday (29th June) I experienced sunny intervals where the clouds were so large that the sun came out for a few minutes and, just as the dragonfly activity was recommencing, disappeared again. I managed to see in the New Forest two new species for the year - an immature male Common Darter (and probably a few more disappearing before 100% identification) and several Emerald Damselflies.

While I spent most of the time in our June holiday baking in the sun along inland riverbeds with temperatures in the mid 30s, the coast was often in a sea fret. This 3CY Audouin's Gull was taken on a cloudy day - 17th June - in Malaga. Cracking bird!

Where Swifts collide

2011-06-28T13:19:00.008+01:00

Just back from a good break in Spain. Only once before have I seen two birds collide - a Common Gull and Black-headed Gull in a bread frenzy. One evening in Alora town square two Swifts collided leaving one on the ground stunned, then frantically flapping its wings before launching again to join all the others tearing around the town.

I managed to get quite a bit of time searching for dragonflies (and for you in blighty - 29C is not hot!) and saw 25 species including three new to me - Orange Featherleg on the Rio Turon at Ardales, Orange-spotted Emerald in the Sierra de Aguas and Ringed Cascader on the Guadalhorce at Alora.

I aslo managed to catch up with (Northern) Banded Groundling at PNDG (Malaga) my first since 2007.

Orange-winged Dropwings were at quite a few locations - this one resting on vegetation rather than rocks or dried mud.

It was quite difficult to get a good shot of Large Pincertail in the Sierra de Aguas because there's a fair amount of shade along the mountain stream so I was pleased to get this image.

Species seen (all in Malaga Province) were (Dijkstra names) - Copper Demoiselle, Iberian Bluetail, Common Bluet, Blue-eye, Large Red Damsel, Orange Featherleg, White Featherleg, Migrant Hawker, Blue Emperor, Lesser Emperor, Western Spectre, Large Pincertail, Small Pincertail, Common Goldenring, Orange-spotted Emerald, Black-tailed Skimmer, Keeled Skimmer, Epaulet Skimmer, Long Skimmer, Red-veined Darter, Broad Scarlet, Violet Dropwing, Orange-winged Dropwing, Banded Groundling, Ringed Cascader.

A few more images are in my Picassa albums (link top right).

Ober Water 3rd June

2011-06-03T19:24:00.009+01:00

Spent a few hours along the Ober Water today between Puttles Bridge and Markway Bridge (actually stopped a few hundred metres short of Markway). I managed to see 15 species in total. Keeled Skimmers were active even at 10am along Silver Stream.

This teneral male Keeled Skimmer was on the windless side of a bush along the Ober Water.

The Ober Water is the only regular New Forest site for White-legged Damselfly and this immature male was the most obliging.

My main target of the day was Scarce Blue-tailed with 4 individuals seen in an unfortunately windy area.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was four male Scarce Chasers holding territory including this male still to become fully blue.

Last by no means least was this fine Red Deer hind.

Possible Caspian Gull

2011-05-30T14:19:00.006+01:00

I took some rather distant images of this bird, which might be a first-summer Caspian Gull, at Lower Test this morning. It does have a long, parallel bill; a fairly small head; longish wings; grey scapulars without heavy anchors; a clean-cut tail band. It didn't appear particularly long-legged though. The wing coverts are very worn so no clues there. The tertials look to be plain brown with pale edges but,again, they are very worn.

Update: 31/05 - Checked with the gull experts and it is indeed a Caspian Gull. Thanks to SSK for alerting me to the possibility and the weather for ensuring I didn't go looking for dragonflies!

Leucistic Herring Gull

2011-05-30T14:16:00.003+01:00

Looked through the gulls this morning at Lower Test and just as I was thinking of leaving a leucistic Herring Gull appeared - very smart.

High winds, low expectations

2011-05-29T18:24:00.004+01:00

As the weather forecast was not good for dragonflies I looked first for yesterday's probable first summer Caspian Gull on the marsh at Lower Test. No sign of that and the sun came out so I had a look along the Blackwater at Testwood Lakes for Scarce Chasers - no sign of them either and the sun disappeared very quickly. There were a few Banded Demoiselles, Azure Damselflies and Blue-tailed Damselflies and also a few different forms of Harlequin Ladybird - and a lot of larvae.

Southern Damselflies 25/05/2011

2011-05-26T06:48:00.009+01:00

On my way to the coast yesterday I called in at Crockford and managed to get a few images of Southern Damselfly.

A male gaining the warmth of the morning sun sheltered from the cold wind by the Crockford Clump.

A female - note the shape of the pronotum and that there is a bar between the post-occular spots.

Another female - note that this one has NO pale bar between the post-occular spots but again the shape of the rear edge of the pronotum is diagnostic. To my knowledge it's the first female mercuriale that I've seen without the pale bar but I might have dismissed them as Azure in the past.

and finally a pair in cop - the female has matured to blue and the bar between the post occular spots is obvious. Female Southerns are a lot easier to identify when attached to the male!

First Small Reds of the season

2011-05-25T19:26:00.004+01:00

I paid a visit to Crockford this morning where I managed to see 33 Southern Damselflies but just one Keeled Skimmer - probably because of the sharp wind. I went round to Shirley Holms where there is an excellent roadside pool filled from a forest mire. There were nine species present including a patrolling male Emperor, 2 territorial Keeled Skimmers and three Small Red Damselflies - another earliest ever for me.

I moved on to Pennington where there were 12 species and I managed to get this image of a Hairy Dragonfly.

White-legged Damselfly 21/05

2011-05-21T23:54:00.003+01:00

In rather too windy conditions in the morning I walked along the Ober Water east from Markway Bridge and found three immature White-legged Damselflies in the bog myrtle. This is another earliest ever date for me but I wouldn't normally visit until about the 5th-10th June to ensure that there are good numbers and also a better chance for Southern, Scarce Blue-tailed and Small Red Damselflies (none of which I saw today!) Other species seen were Beautiful Demoiselle 150+, Blue-tailed Damselfly 5, Large Red Damselfly 100+, Emperor 1, Downy Emerald 1, Four-spotted Chaser 3, Broad-bodied Chaser 16 and Keeled Skimmer 7 (2 mature males).

In the afternoon we walked a circuit of Keyhaven where we found a few Hairy Dragonflies including the one above in a warm and sheltered Iley Lane.

I've used the Panasonic FZ100 since the middle of August last year and I do think that I get slightly better results than with the FZ18 I had before but I think I will need to get a DSLR + Macro set up if I am ever to get any decent shots of damselflies.

Keeled Skimmer

2011-05-19T19:23:00.003+01:00

I saw my first Keeled Skimmer of the year today at Cadnam Common - not quite fully pruinose but still being territorial. There were two male Emperors patrolling and occasionally clashing - my first since the ridiculously early sighting at Badminston GP on April 23rd. Five Downy Emeralds including an ovipositing female was my best count here this spring.

Scarce Chasers

2011-05-18T17:45:00.004+01:00

They've been seen on the local patch since 29th April but it's taken me until today to catch up with Scarce Chasers - two males and one female although no doubt many more were hiding in the trees and vegetation.

Early for me

2011-05-15T18:17:00.010+01:00

While nowhere near the earliest for Hampshire (Andy C saw one last monday) the sightings of six Black-tailed Skimmers, including a territorial male, where my earliest ever. This teneral female was struggling in the F4/5 winds and my camera struggled to focus on her rather than the foliage.

It was an excellent day at Pennington. Despite the wind and the increasing cloud I managed to see 12 species which is not bad for Mid May. At last I have managed to get a picture of a male Hairy Dragonfly. When they are perched I usually manage to not see them and then notice them when they fly away because I've disturbed them.

Immature male Beautiful Demoiselles are even more attractive than the full coloured adults.

Spread them

2011-05-14T19:47:00.002+01:00

On a morning more like an English summer's day (14C, windy, 100% cloud) I searched the west bank of the Blackwater at Testwood Lakes for Scarce Chasers and failed yet again. However there were good numbers of Demoiselles (both Banded and Beautiful) and I found this female Large Red resting with spread wings. Not a particularly unusual event but I've never had the opportunity for a photo before.

An adult Mediterranean Gull circling Meadow Lake in the afternoon was my 112th patch bird of a year in which I haven't been trying very hard.

Reality check

2011-05-11T18:30:00.004+01:00

With late morning temperatures at 14C and 100% cloud cover it was never going to be a dragonfly day. I checked Testwood Lakes for Scarce Chaser but saw none and I did revisit Denny Lodge Inclosure after lunch with the expected result - no Vagrant Emperor!

I came across a female Pheasant with at least four small chicks including this one that froze on the path.

It might be

2011-05-08T19:32:00.004+01:00

After a slightly disappointing visit to Tucker's Bridge Pond this afternoon we decided to make a loop by walking in Denny Lodge Enclosure. Around 3.15pm I saw a dragonfly flying like an Emperor though obviously smaller but difficult to get any features as it was between me and the sun. I then picked out the blue saddle covering just the top 1/2 or 1/3 of the abdomen and that it had yellowy brown eyes and brown thorax and abdomen - Vagrant Emperor!. I managed to get this distant image and despite the abdomen having the colouration of a Lesser Emperor and the eyes appearing a little green I think it probably is a Vagrant Emperor but it's probably one I'm going to have to let go!

PS: After seeking opinion three county recorders believe it to be Vagrant Emperor (Hemianax ephippiger) and that's good enough for me.

Thought for the day

2011-05-08T12:01:00.002+01:00

I don't recall where I found this quote

"This discussion is very reminiscent of life in academia, of which Henry Kissinger once noted that the conflicts were so bitter because the stakes were so small."

I'm sure that we all subscribe to at least one e-mail list / forum where this applies :-)

Downy Emerald

2011-05-07T17:24:00.004+01:00

The only picture I've managed before today was of one in a tree and I was pleased to get one this afternoon of a Downy Emerald in flight. It's not particular good - ISO400 and shutter speed 1/320s - but it's the best I've got!

There was an obliging Four-spotted Chaser but the Broad-bodieds were still very active even though it was getting on for 4pm.

Banded Demoiselle

2011-05-07T14:08:00.010+01:00

I found my first Banded Demoiselles of the year today at Testwood Lakes and when I checked there were my earliest ever by 10 days - they are not an early dragonfly at Lower Test.

There were also some Beautiful Demoiselles.

I don't very often get the chance to take a photo of blue-form female Azures.

I took the opportunity of an obliging male Blue-tailed Damselfly - they usually hide deep in vegetation in the places I visit.

Another early dragon

2011-04-29T20:28:00.004+01:00

Managed to see 11 Red-eyed Damselflies today including the female in the image despite the weather not being quite as sunny as I had hoped for. It has been an excellent April with the following 11 species seen by me:-

29-Apr Red-eyed Damselfly
27-Apr Beautiful Demoiselle
25-Apr Downy Emerald
25-Apr Four-spotted Chaser
23-Apr Common Blue Damselfly
23-Apr Azure Damselfly
23-Apr Emperor Dragonfly
23-Apr Broad-bodied Chaser
20-Apr Blue-tailed Damselfly
20-Apr Hairy Dragonfly
19-Apr Large Red Damselfly

The additional Hants species I know about are Banded Demoiselle (28th) and Scarce Chaser (29th). I expect that Club-tailed has also been seen given the early emergence at other locations.

Cadnam Common 25/04

2011-04-25T23:44:00.000+01:00

A visit to the pond on Cadnam Common (SU285156) produced a Blue-tailed Damselfly, c.50 Large Red Damselflies, a patrolling male Downy Emerald, five Four-spotted Chasers (inc a pair in cop and then the female ovipositing) and 28 Broad-bodied Chasers (four ovipositing females and a few more some distance from the pond 'resting'). There was an incredible amount of activity from the BB Chasers. I've only been visiting the pond and boggy areas on Cadnam and nearby Furzley Commons since July 2010 and so far I've seen 21 species.
Beautiful Demoiselle, Emerald Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Small Red-eyed Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Small Red Damselfly, Migrant Hawker, Southern Hawker, Common Hawker, Emperor Dragonfly, Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Downy Emerald, Four-spotted Chaser, Broad-bodied Chaser, Black-tailed Skimmer, Keeled Skimmer, Black Darter, Common Darter.

It's a short walk from the road along a fairly even grassy path - I'll add it to the sites on the website soon.

Early Emperor

2011-04-23T17:08:00.005+01:00

Had an excellent 80 minutes at Badminston GP this morning with a patrolling male Emperor (earliest by 12 days), a pair of Hairy Dragonflies in cop, immature female Common Blue Damselfly (earliest by a week), 3 Azure Damselflies (earliest by a week), 9 Large Red Damselflies and a Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Paid a visit to Cadnam Common this afternoon were there were 13 Broad-bodied Chasers (11 males and 2 females including one ovipositing). These were also my earliest by a week. There were also two Woodlarks and a Stonechat pair while four Swallows visited the pond.

Dragonfly season starts early

2011-04-21T10:23:00.012+01:00

On Tuesday 19th April I saw a few Large Red Damselflies on Southampton Common equalling my earliest ever. Then on 20th at Pennington I found a few more plus two Blue-tailed Damselflies - my earliest by 10 days. On the way back from Pennington I called in at Crockford and was fortunate to find a male Hairy Dragonfly patrolling one of the sunny marlponds within the woods - again another early date for me by 8 days.

I'm often in Spain in April when the dragonflies start emerging here so my early dates are not the most robust. To see how early dragonflies are this year why not have a look at the BDS Sightings page. If your interest is phenology rather than photography then it's the place for you.

Patch Tick

2011-04-19T06:52:00.005+01:00

An excellent birthday patch tick on Saturday with this Spoonbill putting on a good show at the Lower Test scrape. The Spoonbill was ringed as a nestling in Coto Doñana on 9th April 2007. There was also a male Bearded Tit on the reed island from the old bridge but I only managed to see it in flight. Another unusual sighting on sunday were of 2 Red-legged Partridges making a short hop over reeds - the first time I've seen them on the marsh.

Missed it all

2011-04-11T20:48:00.004+01:00

So I go to Spain for a week and Hoopoes and a Black Stork visit Hampshire. Still I did manage to see one of the latter and a few of the former in our week's stay plus some cracking close views of Bee-eaters and Bonelli's Eagles. By the 10th April there were masses of Lesser Emperors flying at Fuente de Piedra and we also saw one Iberian Bluetail at the coast plus several Common Blue Damselflies and Red-veined Darters at the Campillos Lagunas. And tomorrow I will try again to see if I can hear Grasshopper Warblers :-)

At last

2011-02-28T06:31:00.005Z

Last Wednesday I managed to find eleven Waxwings just on the edge of the patch off Dairy Lane in Nursling. As I stood there I remembered when I used to have the energy to walk down the country lane of Nursling Street, under the motorway into Dairy Lane where the there were just fields to the north covered with Fieldfares in winter. Today the Nursling Street fields have been filled with houses and Dairy lane has a massive Tesco's distribution centre to the north. In addition to the Waxwings there was a flock of Siskins in birches around the perimeter of Tesco's and seven Bullfinches along the western bank near the railway.

On Saturday (26th) Waxwings appeared at the end of our close dropping down to feed on cotoneaster in a rear garden. They did appear again briefly just before 4pm on Sunday so perhaps they'll be here a little longer.

Lifer

2011-02-09T21:19:00.007Z

In a desperate attempt to join the UK300 club before I move to Spain I decided to pop down to Poole Park to see the Long-billed Dowitcher. On the way I called in at Longham Lakes where there were 6 red-head Smew, 4 red-head Goosanders, an immature male Goldeneye and 5 Mediterranean Gulls.

Arrived at Poole Park around noon and the Long-billed Dowitcher and Ring-billed Gull were both on the water's edge at the NE corner of the boating lake. The gull then flew onto the roof of the old cafe but re-appeared for photos each time the ducks were fed. Despite its proximity I failed to get any decent snaps of the Dowitcher but did manage one of the first-winter Ring-billed.

I looked through the gulls in the afternoon gathering at Blashford but couldn't see anything unusual.

I haven't found the Panasonic FZ100 to be an improvement over my FZ18 for getting photos for the web. Possibly 14mp on a small sensor, 600mm equivalent and min F5.6 at full zoom is just not giving me enough speed to get sharp shots - perhaps the well-regarded FZ38 would have been a better choice.

02/02/2011 - a grey day

2011-02-03T06:48:00.004Z

In the morning, encouraged by recent reports of firecrest, brambling, hawfinch and merlin, I spent just over 2 hours on southampton Common. As usual when chasing sightings of others I saw none of these species! However, the Pochard count on Cemetery Lake has gone up to 11 and there was a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull of which I'm waiting to hear the exact origin (somewhere in the west country according to Dirk's site).

Later visits to Eling and Redbridge produced a Bar-tailed Godwit and a one-legged adult Yellow-legged Gull, some strong south-westerlies with drizzly rain and it was to all intents and purposes dark by 16:30.

Caen tres copos y cierran

2011-01-27T06:32:00.003Z

Just back from six days in Alora and it was interesting to see that the Spanish papers are just as obsessed with the weather as we are. Our visit coincided with the first "winter weather" of this winter. The title means "Three snowflakes fall and they (the roads) close" which is not unlike our complaints here!

As well as it being fairly cold I managed to export the virus doing the rounds back home and so did not feel overactive. We managed some birdwatching - the highlight was a flock of 27 Stone Curlews flying past us at a windy Fuente de Piedra where the Flamingos are present in good numbers and the water levels look high enough for them to stay to breed. A Lesser Emperor was the only dragonfly we saw - at Paraje Natural Desembocadura del Guadalhorce where there were large numbers of Chiffchaffs which have obviously started their migration back north. The local highlights were a Bonelli's Eagle over the town and a Great White Egret on the Rio Guadalhorce near Los Caballos.

Bright Start at the Test

2011-01-05T22:11:00.000Z

It was a fine start to the day at Eling although the southerly wind was surprisingly biting. There were 17 Dunlin although the individual in the photograph did not want to associate with the other 16. The now regular Bar-tailed Godwit was still present along with 41 Oystercatchers, 43 Black-tailed Godwits and 19 Redshank. 10 Redwings were on the 'lawn' by the kiddies play area.

At Lower Test around the first high tide there were a Common Sandpiper, another six Dunlin, 274 Lapwing and three swimming Snipe. The waders showed well as the Buzzard circled the southern end of the marsh.

At lunchtime I went to see the redhead Smew on the Test at Romsey. Always a nice bird to see - I think I've used up my patch luck for Smew with singles at either end of 2010!

I finished the day viewing (not very well in the gloom and rain) the River Test back at Redbridge Wharf and was rewarded with an adult Caspian Gull as well as 30 Lesser Black-backed, 15 Greater Black-backed, an adult Yellow-legged Gull and 1200 Herring Gull the latter covering the exposed mud as the tide dropped. There were 2 birds that looked extremely good for 1st and 2nd winter American Herring Gull but with the light almost gone and no possibility of a photograph I packed up the scope and went home. Afternoon low tides won't be right again until weekend 15th/16th and I expect the numbers of birds will be much lower by then.

Ring-billed Gull

2010-12-25T16:17:00.004Z

Took advantage of picking up my Aunt from Gosport to look in at the cockle pond and, for the first time this year, the Ring-billed Gull was present. More surprising was a pair of Shoveler which I first saw in flight coming from Haslar Creek before they chose to land on the ice next to the RB Gull. Unfortunately they flew before I could get them all in the frame.

Little Owl at last

2010-12-25T07:16:00.002Z

Christmas eve was not the most exciting birding day I've experienced. After a tour of the local "berry bushes" which produced large numbers of Redwing but no waxwings I went to Eling to look through the birds on the rising tide. The first bird I saw on getting out of the car was a Green Sandpiper in flight on Bartley Water just west of the Tide Mill - a first on the patch for me south of the A35 although a regular bird just to the north on Lower Test. Along Eling Great Marsh the Avocet and Bar-tailed Godwits appear to have moved on but there were 19 Dunlin which is my highest count since 29/12/2003 when there were 57.

In the afternoon Elaine and I walked around Keyhaven/Pennington - a little icy in parts and a biting north wind but there were good numbers of the regular duck on the ice free parts of the lagoons and on the sea. Surprisingly we saw no scarcer grebes or no divers. At 16:10 over the carpark two Peregrines attended the large Starling gathering but appeared to move off without any serious hunting attempts. Last bird seen for the day was a Little Owl on a telegraph pole on Walhampton Hill. That was a year tick - I really must get out more!

Redpoll invasion

2010-12-15T17:49:00.003Z

There seems to have been a large influx of Lesser Redpolls into Hampshire and as I walked over Redbridge Station bridge there were 3 in the top of a birch. I then got excited picking out a very white gull - unfortunately it was a leucistic adult Herring Gull when examined in the scope.

The Avocet and Whimbrel were still at Eling along with (a record count for me!) 3 Bar-tailed Godwit.

Waxwing

2010-12-12T19:46:00.007Z

Before going off to do some proper birding this morning I had a look around Lordshill for yesterday's reported Waxwings. It didn't take long to find them as 18 were perched in two trees in Sainsbury's car park right next to the roundabout. Took a few snaps and then went down to Eling to check through the birds at low tide.
Unsurprisingly there was much the same as yesterday! One Avocet, 7 Dunlin, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit (2 yesterday), 1 Whimbrel and 3 Gadwall were the more unusual sightings. Still no scarce grebes,no divers, no mergansers and no Goldeneye this winter.

Another day another tick

2010-12-05T17:29:00.004Z

I may have left it too late this year to have a big push for seeing 200 bird species in Hampshire for the year but I did manage two year ticks today at Weston Shore taking me to 171! Firstly a Sanderling, foundy by Andy Collins on Friday, was along the water's edge opposite the pitch and putt course. Then when the mist cleared enough to see any distance the two Black-necked Grebes from saturday were in view off the slipway.

Another Avocet

2010-12-04T17:15:00.003Z

I made a late start today and my drive down to Redbridge managed to coincide with the start of some fairly heavy rain. As well as the rain the visibility was poor and I could just about pick out a drake Pochard (unusual here) out in the gloom with the Little Grebes. I then picked out 5 Gadwall alongside Eling Great Marsh and a Tufted Duck near the railway line. The rain stopped temporarily and at 12:40 I got good views of an Avocet in flight over Eling Great Marsh which landed out of sight in Eling Channel.

I stopped off briefly at the old Reed Bridge and an adult Yellow-legged Gull was briefly on the marsh before upsetting all the other gulls and flying off south with them. The only other species of note was Shoveller (2 drakes and a duck) which is unusual here.

When I got home I read that there was a Common Crane SW over Swaythling at 13:02 so it probably flew unnoticed over my head!

Another Smew

2010-12-03T16:14:00.004Z

On Wednesday (1st) I saw my 2nd patch Smew of 2010 (2nd ever) - a redhead off Redbridge Wharf. It was there all afternoon. A leucistic Common Gull briefly raised hopes at one point. I'd not seen it before but there was one seen there on 3rd January when people were searching for the drake Smew. Earlier in the day a small flock of Golden Plover at Lee were my 140th patch species of the year.

Today (3rd) I popped out for an hour and there were 9 Snipe and 13 Dunlin from the wharf - both uncommon species there. Earlier singles of Firecrest, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest passed through the garden while a female Brambling spent nearly four hours feeding.

Buntings and gulls

2010-11-24T21:32:00.001Z

On my way down to the coast I stopped at Hatchet Pond not really expecting the previous day's Great White Egret to still be present - a very popular area with plenty of dog walkers - but the bird was still there. A poor photograph but perhaps it shows the paler tibia to eliminate 'American' GWE. There were also singles of drake Goosander and Shoveler on the pond.

I then went on to Cut Bridge at Keyhaven and walked along Hurst Spit to see the two Snow Buntings that have been present for a fortnight or so. This picture is slightly better than that of the egret - but the sharpest thing seems to be the pebbles!

I also managed to see some of the Lapland Buntings in the New Lane stubble fields - no more than 2 at a time so Hampshire's record count is safe with someone else - before heading off to Blashford for the Ibsley Water gull roost.

At Redbridge I'm used to looking through mostly Herring Gulls and a handful of Lesser Black-backeds to find the scarcer species but at Blashford there are thousands of Lesser Black-backed to scan through. Eventually just after 4.30pm, and unfortunately about 10 minutes after the other birders had left the hide and with only a few minutes of useful light left, I saw the hoped for adult Caspian in the NE corner of Ibsley Water.

Game over

2010-10-27T19:33:00.004+01:00

for this male Southern Hawker

but another 4 were still very active in the warm autumn sun at Shatterford this afternoon. I also came across 11 Common Darters and saw the Great Grey Shrike for about 5 minutes in the birch tops.

Herring Gulls

2010-10-26T19:03:00.004+01:00

Last friday (22nd Oct 2010) I managed to get an hour after work to look through the gulls from Redbridge Wharf. Nothing unusual was present but I did manage to read the rings on five Herring Gulls. Two were ringed in Essex, one in Bristol, one in Alderney and one from the RSPCA rescue centre at Petts Level, East Sussex.

Ashley Hole 17/10/10

2010-10-17T20:21:00.002+01:00

At Ashley Hole this afternoon there were 2 Black and 8 Common Darters at the bomb craters with a Southern Hawker along the woodland edge.

Yesterday at Lower Test there were at least 4 male Migrant Hawkers basking in the brambles behind the hide in the afternoon sun.

Darter extravanganza

2010-10-11T17:05:00.007+01:00

Not unsurprisingly for sunny, warm October days there were good numbers of Common Darters basking along the sheltered Iley Lane (Keyhaven) this weekend. I counted 70 there on Saturday as well as 9 Migrant Hawkers.

Withdrawing from the post-a-photo forums now as my priority is watching rather than photographing.

Still flying 06/10/10

2010-10-06T21:04:00.004+01:00

Took advantage of the warm and now dry and sunny weather to walk around the lanes at Pennington. Encountered 18 Migrant Hawkers and over 40 Common Darters but no other species. Stopped off at Crockford on the way back where 2 Southern Hawkers clashed on a marl pool inside the trees well sheltered from the wind.

One from our recent trip to Spain, an immature male Epaulet Skimmer.

Pennington 11/08

2010-08-11T18:18:00.005+01:00

Despite the sunny intervals being mostly intervals the dragonflies did their best to show themselves. Species seen were

Banded and Beautiful Demoiselle,
Blue-tailed, Common Blue, Azure, Red-eyed, Small Red-eyed and Large Red Damselflies
Migrant and Southern Hawkers, Emperor and Golden-ringed dragonflies, Black-tailed Skimmer, Ruddy and Common Darters

It was the first week I've not seen a chaser.

Called in at Crockford on the way back and failed to find any Southern Damselflies but it was rather late in the day and 100% cloudy.

The Lower Test Osprey was on one of its usual dead trees at 16:45.

Swanage/Durlston 08/08/10

2010-08-09T07:08:00.003+01:00

My sister, Gill, has bought a caravan in Swanage and we visited for the first time today. Within a couple minutes you are walking across nature reserve fields and then over the top towards Durlston. A Humming-bird Hawkmoth made a brief visit to honeysuckle on the edge of the decking and at least 100 Swifts were up high in the valley between Herston and Ulwell. Highlight was watching a Marsh Harrier moving slowly west off Durlston - it even appeared to be quartering the sea! My great niece Grace is the younger one in the picture.

Old woman

2010-07-21T20:48:00.004+01:00

A bit windy in the Keyhaven area today but managed to see 14 species of odonata with another 5 on the way home, including my first Migrant Hawker of the year, so not all bad.

Not keeping up

2010-07-20T08:27:00.007+01:00

Apologies to my reader for not keeping this blog up to date. I've been sorting out what might be loosely described as my image library, indexing all the images by species where appropriate and linking derived pictures to originals.

I also tire of putting up information of what odonata I've seen only for people e-mailing asking for exact locations so that they can collect a photograph. The web already has many excellent photographs of mature adult odonata. (My regular correspondents and exchangers of information I except from this tiredness!)

At present it would be more beneficial for the National Atlas for people to pick some different sites to the few I can find time to visit, survey these sites and submit your records. See the BDS information about the atlas (opens in new window).

Orange-winged Dropwing

2010-07-19T14:11:00.005+01:00

It's taken me a little while since David Chelmick first discovered them in Spain near Manilva on 29th May 2007 but on 15th June 2010 I managed to find an Orange-winged Dropwing (Trithemis kirbyi). This was at a waterfall in the Sierra de Aguas (Malaga Province) and a week later I found another five territorial males on the Rio Guadalhorce in Alora. Cracking dragonfly!

First Small Red

2010-06-09T21:15:00.008+01:00

Not a perfect day for seeing dragonflies but when the sun came out this afternoon I saw my first Small Red Damselflies of the year along the Ober Water east of Markway bridge.

Two Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies were in the same channel along with many ovipositing Azures.

A little further east in an area of bog myrtle there were about 20 White-legged Damselflies and a few Southern Damselflies - the count would probably have been larger if the sun had been out at the time.

Berkshire Dragonflies

2010-06-05T20:20:00.006+01:00

I had an excellent day in Berkshire starting at Burghfield Bridge to look at Variable Damselflies and then a visit to Decoy Heath with 16 species including Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Keeled Skimmer, White-legged Damselfy,quite a few Downy Emeralds and a teneral female Common Darter - my earliest ever.

Small period of warmth

2010-05-31T08:38:00.006+01:00

The hot spell around 23rd May seems to have encouraged dragonfly emergence and I was fourtunate to photograph this female Scarce Chaser on 30th May. I have seen 12 species so far this year compared with 15 by the end of May in the previous 2 years. It could be the effect of two cold winters in a row but more likely just that the majority of the days I've had available have coincided with cold, cloudy, windy weather!

Crockford and elsewhere

2010-05-19T18:27:00.004+01:00

Compared with my previous two visits, I made a marginally more successful trip to Crockford today - seeing

Beautiful Demoiselle 1 teneral male (Lower Crockford)
Azure Damselfly 1 male
Large Red Damselfly 22
Four-spotted Chaser 1 (Two Bridges Bottom)
Broad-bodied Chaser 3

First time I've seen a Four-spotted Chaser in the Crockford area so perhaps that should be a cause for a celebration!

The patch year list is now 133 with Red-rumped Swallow (assuming it gets accepted) on 12th May and Cuckoo on 16th.

Update

2010-05-08T18:15:00.005+01:00

Apologies to my reader for not keeping the site up to date.

Since the Wryneck and a beautifully sunny week in Britain (enforced by the volcanic ash) I have managed to add a few birds to my annual patch list taking the total to 131.

Coal Tit 08/05
Spotted Flycatcher 05/05
Hobby 05/05
Swift 28/04
Nightingale 27/04 (still singing 08/05 from Echo Compound)
Yellow Wagtail 25/04
Garden Warbler 24/04
Common Tern 20/04
Reed Warbler 19/04
Lesser Whitethroat 19/04
Linnet 19/04

The species that I am most worried about not having seen to date is Cuckoo althought there have been a couple of reports from the top end of the patch so there may be one that stays in the area.

Grasshopper Warblers have been reported regularly but I've not yet been present when someone with good hearing has said "it's reeling now" so that I know I can't hear groppers!

Patch tick

2010-04-18T19:54:00.010+01:00

Poor record shots of a Wryneck which was a patch (and Hampshire) tick for me - it's very scarce on spring passage in Hampshire. I saw it just south of the Echo offices in Test Lane yesterday (17/04) for about 5 minutes and it then disappeared into the hedge and I couldn't find it again.

There was a much more obliging Wheatear this morning at Lower Test and a good passage of Swallows and Sand Martins.

A little quiet

2010-04-11T20:27:00.006+01:00

I walked around the top 1/2 of Lower Test, Little Testwood Lake and Mill Lane (Nursling) hoping for Reed Warbler and/or Cuckoo. No luck but I had my first sighting of singing Sedge Warbler for the year. I reached 119 for my patch year list on 8th April with an evening Barn Owl - always a delight to see.

The Empty Sea

2010-03-31T23:33:00.000+01:00

Ten quids worth of petrol wasted driving to Milford and back to find a sea empty apart from a few local gulls enjoying the surf.

Fortunately I was back at Lower Test - the home of real birding - in time to see both an Osprey (thanks for the phone call, Ian) and, sitting on a nearby tree stump, a Red Kite. Unfortunately both birds were sitting with their backs to us as we stared into a remarkably biting westerly. The kite flew and was lost to view. After a soaking I decided to drive round to the west side of the reserve but did not manage to relocate the Kite. Three Swallows looked at home flying low over the tussocky areas normally used by the Water Pipits.

Heronflusher

2010-03-25T06:43:00.008Z

The following extract is from an e-mail by Lee Evans on hoslist. It was put forward as an example of the effort he puts in for others to see birds - how information should be shared.

"I was unfortunate to have a Great White Egret at a private fishery near my house in December 2009, which only I have limited access to. I told no one about it and only made news of it public when I managed to get it to move to a neighbouring stretch of river. Likewise, a Purple Heron visiting a neighbours garden had to be flushed each morning so that others could see it from a public bridge."

The first rule of the (new) Birdwatcher's code is

Avoid disturbing birds and their habitats – the birds’ interests should always come first.

It is difficult to see where the interests of the bird is coming first in these two examples given by Evans. The egret and heron had found a place suitable for them and did not need "moving" or "flushing".

Twitchers wonder why birds are "suppressed". If this behaviour by Lee Evans is typical of twitchers then it is no wonder that information of scarce birds is not released.

Lower Test area 24/3

2010-03-24T18:11:00.004Z

It ended up being quite a quiet day. I had expected one of Osprey / Marsh Harrier / Red Kite (you have to be optimistic!) but saw instead one Little Ringed Plover from Redbridge Wharf and six Sand Martins at Testwood Lakes. I see from Birdguides that an Osprey circled to the NE of Lower Test at 13:45 - just when I was driving between Wade Bridge and Eling! I did see 3 CR gulls at Redbridge - an adult Herring for the 3rd time plus new birds in a first-winter Herring Gull and an adult Black-headed Gull (which I think might be Polish).

At home there was a male Blackcap, the previous Blackcap sighting being a female on Jan 1st.

I've got to 106 for the patch for the year - we reckon that 120 species have been seen so far (121 counting the Osprey).

Lower Test 20/3

2010-03-20T12:50:00.009Z

In persistent heavy drizzle there was no sign of any Chiffchaffs and after a brief soaking I decided to site in the hide. Birds using the scrape were Moorhen 2, Teal 4, Green Sandpiper 1, Water Rail 1 (probably 2), a Pied Wagtail and a vocal Cetti's Warbler which refused to show. An optimistic Greenfinch launched his songflight from behind the hide and a Fox made its way around the edge. On the marsh were 3 Little Egrets, 4 Shelduck, 1 Curlew and 2 Oystercatchers. A Peregrine landed briefly in one of the near Pylons and on the riverbank near the mere was a single Black-tailed Godwit.

From the Migrant Arrivals on the board:-
Little Ringed Plover 14/3
Chiffchaff 18/3
Sand Martin 18/3
Wheatear 18/3
Swallow 20/3 (before I got there!)

Spring

2010-03-17T18:55:00.008Z

On Southampton Common yesterday (17th March) was this fine aythya hybrid - a Tufted male x Pochard female which resembles Lesser Scaup. Today I saw my first patch Chiffchaff of the year on a much duller day.
I also saw this adult Yellow-legged Gull. It would probably get rejected by a committee because it doesn't have a broad complete black band on P5!

Another day on the patch

2010-02-24T17:55:00.009Z

At Bonemill I heard my first patch Cetti's Warbler of the year and there was a male Stonechat on the fence at Gover Rd - first I've seen on the patch since the January cold snap.

At Eling two Peregrines were putting on a good show in the late morning sun. Better still was a Bar-tailed Godwit (with 78 Black-tailed Godwits) - only my third record for the patch (record shot above). Unfortunately the Peregrines sent the Barwit off to Bury Marsh. One of the two wintering Whimbrels was on the mud at the southern end of Eling Great Marsh.

Six Snipe were sitting on the scrape but no sign of yesterday's Jack Snipe in nearly two hours of watching in the afternoon rain.

Green Bonus

2010-02-15T21:01:00.011Z

An unexpected bonus in a weekend of domesticity - A Ring-necked Parakeet from my sister's lounge window. It's a pity that the bird was not in focus!

My trawl through Hampshire bird reports, looking for local records, continues. Bonxie at Eling (27/12/1986) was not a record I expected to find - or a species I anticipate seeing on the patch before I die!