Win some, lose some

With autumn (for the birds at least) here, I'm getting back into things, so a busy few days to recap.

After a stunning encounter very early on Saturday morning with a family of five foxes on the village cricket pitch (followed later by a slightly less stunning half hour clearing all the scat off the outfield before our game) I actually got some birding in on Sunday.

Started off with a session at Barton (0655-0825), mainly checking wooded areas for migrants (most hopefully Pied Flycatcher). All was pretty quiet, with migrant counts totalling 8 Willow Warblers, 7 Whitethroats, 5 Chiffchaffs, 5 Swallows and 5 Sand Martins. Two families of Stonechats were seen, one including the smart white-rumped continental-type bird first seen in March. Two Black-tailed Godwits went east, and 1 Sparrowhawk, c50 Goldfinches, 16+ Linnets and 1 Goldcrest were also seen.

The rest of the morning was spent with Steve P and Mark H on a successful trip to Titchfield Haven, where we scored with Roseate Tern, a very obliging ringed summer adult that alternated between perching in and out of view and terrorising the Common Terns and Turnstones. Also there was a juvenile Black Tern and 2 Common Sandpipers.

Then yesterday (Monday) morning I skipped of work for an hour and a half thanks to Steve calling me to say he'd found a female/juv Pied Flycatcher at Crockford in the New Forest. Unfortunately I failed to see it, although 2+ Spotted Flycatchers were seen, and singles of Purple Hairstreak and Silver-studded Blue were both my first of the year.

This morning I was back at Crockford, and once again failed to find the Pied Fly. This can be a real problem species in Hampshire for yearlisters, with usually only a couple of dozen records each year. most of which go unreported at the time, and the vast majority of which are one-day birds.

I'd assumed this would be the last birding of the day, but a series of texts early afternoon resulted in a mad dash over to Hayling Island, where Steve and I were treated to superb views of a newly-found juvenile Red-backed Shrike. Only my third record for the county.

The year list now stands at 219, just one short of the start-of-year target. I'm not going to be top of the yearlist table (third or, more likely, fourth I expect), but I've had a lot of fun visiting  new sites and generally being irresponsible! That said, I have no intention of doing it again next year!

9:04 PM - Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - post comment