Kingfisher

It has been a steady start to the new birding year, plenty of birds to be seen, most at a good distance so the opportunities for a photograph have been slim - until yesterday. We started at Pagham North Wall where all the usual suspects were present, just in lower numbers than last week. We added Golden Plover to our slowly growing tick list. A trip to the other side proved almost as fruitless with just two Stock Doves being the outstanding species. Next up was Swanbourne Lake at Arundel in search of a couple of Mandarins - alas lower water levels meant that tree cover was well above the shoreline and we failed to locate the birds.  On up the hill above Offham Farm where we found the five Bewick's Swans out in the field. No sign of the Great White Egret on the river so we paid a visit to the WWT Wetland Centre. Most of the lakes had a thin covering of ice - just enough to prevent ducks falling through and of course putting Kingfisher feeding on hold. However, there were several small patches of open water and the Kingfishers were trying their best to find prey. One bird, adjacent to the path, had decided that human onlookers were less of a threat than starvation and gave stunning views to a host of onlookers.

 

 

Another bird at the "normal" distance.

The other inhabitants of the reserve were also feeling the effects of the freeze, particularly the Teal. Great to watch the surprise of one bird landing as it skidded across the ice.

Some record shots from our first trips out this year.

The 1st winter Scaup on Ivy Lake....

......a Curlew with a crab at Church Norton.....

 

 

....two of the eight  Cattle Egrets at Warblington, unfortunately a fair distance away....

 

 

and finally the Ring-necked Duck at Dungeness.

Don't mention the Stejneger's Stonechat

 

Ring-necked Ducks

Today was a Rooksbury Mill revisit to see if we could improve the records that we had in December. However, we stopped off on the way at the delightfully named Pinglestone Farm water cress beds. A Water Pipit had been reported and I still haven't got a reasonable shot of one. When we arrived the temperatures were hovering above freezing but it was a bright crisp morning, a good day to be out. There seemed to less birds about than on our previous visit, we did manage to find a couple of likely candidates but given the distance we couldn't achieve a positive ID.

On to Rooksbury Mill near Andover, with the weather remaining clement we were hopeful of some decent photography. The birds weren't difficult to find, more or less where we had left them on our previous foray. This time though there was a small flock of Tufted Ducks, a pair of photogenic Gadwall and a family of Mute Swans.

 

On the journey home we called in at Pinglestone but there had been no improvement save for eight Little Egrets, smaller birds were absent yet again. After a detour through Petersfield we made our way to an old favourite, the Little Owl at Stapelash Farm, he may have been in residence but if he was he wasn't showing. Similarly the Hawfinches in the trees next to Yew Tree Cottage were obviously foraging elsewhere and I didn't fancy a slog along the path. Then we had a tweet that the Glaucous Gull was back at the gull roost at Goring and as Martin needed the tick we made our way home.

Out on the gap the Glaucous Gull showed well but as I got the camera out it promptly sat down and went to sleep - so no improved shots. By now the biting north-wester was cutting to the bone and the toss up between a steaming hot cup of tea and a shot of a plain white gull was a no brainer. Really nice to be out on a day when the sun shone and that the grey clag has been banished.

Ring-necked Ducks

It was the usual dilemma, as we sat in the car we had to decide where to go and the choice was limited. For a start the weather was really dull and overcast and the forecast promised no improvement. On offer were some Red-breasted Mergansers at the Widewater, subjects that we had captured several times previously and experience told us that the light conditions would be difficult. So in the end we opted for a new venue and the possibility of a life tick. Two Ring-necked Ducks had been in residence at Rooksbury Mill near Andover. Careful navigation of some of the back lanes of Hampshire allowed us to avoid the congestion of the M27 and apart from one minor error we duly arrived at the venue without mishap.

By the time we arrived the skies were brightening somewhat and the temperature was exceedingly pleasant. The ducks had not been reported the previous day but earlier sightings gave the Mill Lake as the place to be. Our first scan revealed very little, just a few Little Grebes and Moorhens to be found. Where were the flocks of Tufted Ducks that we had expected to search through to find the target?

A check of the other lake, Brooks, raised the spirits as here were small numbers of ducks, Gadwall, Mallard and Tufted, sadly no RnDs. Chatting with a local helped but left us feeling that we were on a good chance of dipping. Luckily we decided to give the larger lake another go and as we crossed over the River Anton we could see two ducks out in the middle of the lake - scrutiny with the bins confirmed that we had found our quarry - a life tick for us both!

So we took advantage of the bankside cover and positioned ourselves to get some better shots, even the sun came out at one stage. These two were definitely wary of human presence and though they were feeding happily they stayed out in the middle of the lake, occasionally coming closer to us as several dog walkers using the path on the other side of the lake forced them over.

 

All very similar  - only the light changed.

Having taken more than enough shots, there are only so many poses that two ducks can perform, we left - well pleased.  We decided to find another venue that we have read about but never visited - the watercress beds at Alresford, just in case a Water Pipit was about.
We found the place - purely by happenstance -  we noted Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Green Sandpiper and the ubiquitous Little Egret but unfortunately no sign of a Water Pipit. On the way home we visited another watercress bed, this time the one at Warnford in the Meon Valley, nothing to raise the pulse, just a Pied Wagtail and a Little Egret.

Plenty of bugs in a watercress bed!