Winter Birding.

A few images of species seen during my winter birding forays.

A reflective pair of Mute Swans on a very cold January day at Frensham Little Pond on the only ice free patch of water.

On the same January day a rare inland Surrey sighting was this juvenile Long-tailed Duck that spent some weeks at Frensham Great and Little Pond.

A Kestrel just taking off. A resident and regular sighting on my local patch.

On a sunnier day in January a record shot of a Dartford Warbler, a resident breeder on Thursley Common. This species appears to have fared well this winter.

A Kingfisher seen at Tices Meadows in February seeking food from a very small stream when most of the main water areas were frozen.

A trip to Staines Reservoir in early March produced this record image of a long staying male Scaup (top left) in the company of Tufted Ducks .....

... and during the same visit several Black-necked Grebes in various plumage's.

Finally, my favourite winter goose, the Dark-bellied Brent. Just one of a few thousand seen around Langstone Harbour earlier this month.

Linking to:
Wild Bird Wednesday
Saturday's Critters
I'D-Rather-B-Birdin' 

Boardwalk Wildlife.

During the past few weeks I have enjoyed several visits to Thursley Common under both sunny and cloudy skies. So here are a few images taken while I have been  treading the boardwalks and tracks in search of the local wildlife. 

More often than not the first bird I usually encounter is a male Stonechat singing from atop a young Birch.

The main boardwalk allows access across the wettest part of the site towards 'Pine Island' where there is often something sitting atop the tallest branches ... on this visit it was a Kestrel. In a few weeks time photographers will line the boardwalk hoping to get that special shot of a Hobby hawking prey over the main pool.

The shorter section of boardwalk below leads towards 'Shrike Hill' and it is here that I look for a dark, long-tailed warbler with a red eye ....

while also listening out for its very distinctive scratchy, mechanical song.

Occasionally I get a brief glimpse of a Dartford Warbler (Sylvia undata) one of the special residents of this lowland heathland habitat. This species is dependent on mature dry heath with gorse in good condition in order to survive cold, harsh winters. The UK population crashed to a few pairs in the 1960's but it has fortunately bounced back although several fires on the common and very wet, cold winters in recent years have not helped but it is very pleasing now to see decent numbers in various locations around this site.

 

Certainly not a bird that is easy to get close to without an extremely long lens, hence this cropped shot!

Despite the chilly weather there were one or two hardy Common Lizard sunbathing on the boardwalk and well camouflaged amongst the dried grasses nearby a female Mallard was resting.

Heading out onto the tracks across the open heath provided views of Woodlark, more Stonechats and a brief encounter with one of the two Great Grey Shrikes that have been overwintering here. Their tendency to roam widely for food means they can turn up anywhere on the common although the aptly named 'Shrike Hill' is generally the best place to find them.

A detour to a patch of deciduous woodland rewards me with sightings of a recently arrived male Common Redstart (above) plus views of Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and hear my first Cuckoo of the year before I trudge up onto the gorse covered ridge, accompanied by the twittering of Linnets, for uninterrupted distant views over the extensive heathland before descending back via the sandy tracks to the boardwalk.

Linking to:
Nature Notes
Wild Bird Wednesday

Birding through a clear eye.

Today I made my first outdoor sortie for a wander around Horton Country Park following the cataract surgery to my left eye on Tuesday. The Surgeon has dramatically improved my distance vision so it was quite an experience to be birding without wearing any spectacles. 

Pied Wagtail

A Pied Wagtail in one of the paddocks who couldn't decide whether to sit in the sun or the shade from the fence!

Still good numbers of overwintering Redwing moving between their woodland roosts and feeding spots in the horse paddocks.

Great Tit

I watched any number of Goldcrest flitting through the vegetation in Pond Wood without any chance of a photo but at least this Great Tit was far more obliging.

Every now and then the bird song died away as this Kestrel made a few forays along the woodland edge.

I'm linking to GOOD FENCES with this final image of a Blue Tit perched on one of the dilapidated woven hazel fences.

Sitting Pretty.

A trip to Hayling Island today provided an opportunity to walk part of the 'Billy Trail' and a brief encounter with a male [Common] Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). I initially spotted him hovering over a nearby paddock in a very strong breeze while searching for voles and then he decided to take a rest on a fence post.

I guess the 'click' of the camera briefly caught his attention but he quickly returned to eyeing up any movement beneath a nearby hedge before pouncing on some likely prey unfortunately out of my line of sight.

Linking to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

Transect Update

With the butterfly recording season nearly at at end for this year the only species seen during my last three weekly transect walks was the Speckled Wood but typically the highest numbers recorded (30 individuals) throughout the shaded woodland areas.

Speckled Wood.

The other main occurrence has been the emergence of the Parasol fungi in the open woodland pasture. The egg shaped young caps quickly expand and flatten revealing a a large central umbro.

During my most recent walk I was treated to a decent albeit brief view of a female Kestrel perched atop a bare birch tree as she scanned the undergrowth before departing over the woodland canopy.

Wildlife watching and blogging has taken a back seat recently and this will be the case over the next few weeks as we continue to prepare for a fairly major revamp of our heating system at home and I crack on with the ongoing redecoration's.  FAB.

Linking to:
Nature Notes hosted by Michelle.

Birding Farlington Marshes.

As a continuation to 'Geese Galore', which focused on the over-wintering migrant geese that take up residence in Langstone Harbour, this post will highlight just a few of the 53 species logged during last Sunday's visit to Farlington Marshes.

When I arrived at 9 am after a 56 mile drive the high tide was on the turn but there were still small groups of Brent Geese on the water.

Brent Geese (Branta bernicla ssp. bernicla).

Whilst most of the waders, including Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Avocet, Turnstone, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Grey Plover were feeding way out in the harbour on the slowly expanding areas of mud I did manage to locate a lonesome (Common) Redshank close by the sea-wall.

Redshank (Tringa totanus).

Once the party of a dozen birders from the Surrey Bird Club were assembled we commenced our anti-clockwise circuit of the 153 hectares of Farlington Marshes by following the track around the seawall. 

After scanning the harbour and adding Mallard, Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Pintail, Little Egret and the usual Gull species our attention turned to the nearby pool.


With typically high water levels at this time of year there weren't many waders present, just a few Godwit and Dunlin but we added Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Coot, Moorhen, Gadwall and one of my favourite winter ducks the Northern Pintail with the males sporting their elegant breeding plumage. I also located a Snipe hiding in the grass, bobbing slightly as it moved, but it turned out to be just the common variety!

Northern Pintail (Anus acuta).

I have previously mentioned that this site is internationally important as it plays host to particularly large populations of the Dark-bellied Brent Goose, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin.

Some of the Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits can be seen wearing coloured rings in various combinations on the tibia  (above the ‘knee’ joint) and the tarsus (below the ‘knee’ joint), and each scheme has one ring of a particular colour in a constant position. The Farlington Ringing Group plays an important role in this and you can find out more about the coding and schemes here. 

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa).

As you can see it can be difficult to clearly identify all the rings on some individuals especially when they are walking in the water but every sighting record submitted helps to build up a picture of each bird's location history. One of our group diligently documented our combined sightings.

During a visit here in January 2009 I digiscoped my first colour ringed BTG and you can see the images and some of its life its history in a previous post entitled 'Godwit Sighting History'.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta).

One of a handful of Little Egrets seen searching for a meal during our walk. Amazing to recall that any sighting 26 years ago was considered a rare event.

Herring Gull

After one full circuit my colleagues walked back to their vehicles for lunch but I decided to spend some time wandering along the stream to capture some flight shots and while scanning the extensive adjacent reed bed two Bearded Reedlings zipped in and out of view and a Cetti's Warbler called from a nearby shrub.

I also obtained a few shots of Gulls and Shelduck flying to and from the harbour.

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna).

Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).

Every now and then the flock of Lapwings took flight, probably disturbed by over-flying noisy helicopters, and so distinctive with their two tone wing pattern, shape and shrill 'pwaay-eech' call.

Very surprisingly the only raptor I spotted was a hovering Kestrel. 

Further round the circuit a small flock of Linnets passed overhead. Skylarks were heard and then two seen chasing one another. Stonechats popped into view at several spots.

With the tide receding further we had distant scoped views of Common Ringed Plover, Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye and several pairs of Red-breasted Merganser.

The grazing marsh was, of course, littered with hundreds of Brent Geese (up to 4,000 recently recorded on site), 28 Barnacle Geese, and numerous Shelduck plus a few Tufted Ducks amoungst all the other duck species already logged.
 

Barnacle and Brent Geese.

After some six hours of glorious coastal birding under a chilly winter sun I had added a dozen species to my year list to take the total to 101. So with final views of the Barnacle and Brent Geese in flight it was time to wend my weary way home.  FAB.

Linking to:
Saturday's Critters 
I'D-Rather-B-Birdin' 
Wild Bird Wednesday 

Fences are for Birds.

It has been a while since I participated in Good Fences hosted by Theresa so here are a few different fences that I have strolled past recently and being used as perching places by a number of our resident breeding birds.

Scanning the fence boundaries of the horse paddocks in Horton Country Park I noticed that one post was taller than all the others and on closer inspection it was being used by one of the resident Little Owls enjoying a brief spell of winter sunshine. The image quality is not brilliant as I had to heavily crop the original as this small Owl was a long way away and very well camouflaged against the the hedgerow!

The next species, a Kestrel at Tices Meadows was far more obvious as it used a tall post to survey its surroundings before flying off to hunt for a meal.

During a visit to Warnham L.N.R. this week a male Bullfinch perched very briefly on a woven hazel fence.

And finally a Robin using a woven willow fence panel as a perch.  FAB.