Winter Sun - Blashford Lakes, Poole, Bournemouth, Totteridge Valley - 17th - 27th Feb 201928/2/2019 As I write this the weather has returned to normal, as I just got a drenching on my way back from shopping, however today is the first time it has rained in weeks I honestly can't remember the last time it rained which is unusual for the time of year and the country that I live in. Anyway the last 2 weeks has seen the UK's warmest ever winter weather and so I decided to make the most of the T-shirt weather with temperatures comfortably over 15 degrees for majority of the time frame and into the 20's for the first time ever in winter. On the 17th February a decent day saw me head out to Poole Park to enjoy what at the time was thought to be a short spell of sunny weather. In fact it was a rather foggy day but still unseasonably warm and thus to see 2 Australian Black Swan in with the Mute Swan was strange. Infact it highlighted just how large Mute Swan are. Above: Black Swan right at home with the Mute Swan's. Also Herring Gull and Canada Geese present. Below: Black Swan and Coot. You can see the white that these Swans have on the wing which can be a bit confusing if you see them flying in off the sea. Honestly these Black Swan were the highlights of the outing with only 3 Med Gull and a couple of Turnstone off Baiter Park worth mentioning. Above: Turnstone So the next few summer like days I actually spent at home in the company of my family. I didn't do an awful lot of birding however I did manage to make 3 visits up to Totteridge to get some welcome patch year ticks in order to get my patch year list up to 62 species. With some frustrating species still missing. The pair of Egyptian Geese are still frequenting the same area in which they attempted to breed last year however they don't appear to have started nesting yet. Having gone from not seeing a Red Kite this year in the valley the warm sunny weather has brought 4 into the local area and as I watch one of the pairs settle in a nearby tree I have to admit that I wasn't expecting to watch as they urm, well... mated. 3 Pairs of Buzzard seem to also be in the area however it looks as though one of the Red Kite pairs may have pushed out a pair of Buzzard from a tree that they have been using for many years. The Red Kites have also been seen drifting over the local area as well. Other wise an unusually high number of Lapwing are present in one of the stubble fields and 3 Coot are on the Ponds along with 14 Teal at Darlands otherwise everything was very average. It was however odd to note the first Brimestone, Red Admiral and Peacock Butterflies on my visits which is something I wouldn't really be expecting till mid to late March. Above: Moth sp Below: Pair of Egyptian Geese Above: Red Kite The Warm weather continued to when I returned to uni and so a visit on Sunday 24th saw me head out early in the day to Hengistbury Head. I have to admit that I had forgotten that it was the finally day of half term and so it was well and truly packed. There must have been over 10,000 people there and so I wasn't really too surprised not to see too much. It did however start with what has to be my favourite sound of spring as the Skylarks were displaying near the visitor centre. Above: Skylarks Moving on along the headland there were honestly just too many people about to properly bird watch however 8 pairs of Stonechat wasn't a bad count. On the sea a Great Crested Grebe was off shore as well as a distant Red-throated Diver. Above: Female Stonechat Below: Male Stonechat Above and Below: Female (left) Male (Right), Stonechat After walking the headland I then walked the whole of the sandspit however apart from the odd rock pipit it was largely devoid of bird life and I think it was my first visit that didn't yield at least one wader. I then moved onto the woodland where eventually I managed to find 2 Firecrest associating with a large Goldcrest Flock and a Drake Goosander was roosting in Barn Bight. Wick was next on my list and to be honest bar the odd Goldcrest Chiffchaff and Bullfinch it was quite quiet as perhaps the heat of the day was starting to get to the birds as it neared 20 degrees for the first time. It did however make it quite good for Butterflies with Red Admiral, Comma and Peacock all seen out and about sunning themselves. Above: Comma Below: Peacock I then carried on to the wetlands part of Wick where Cetti's Warblers sang and Teal and Common Snipe fed around the edges of the now shallow pools. Honestly there wasn't much else after this as it felt like everything was taking a siesta which was a shame so I headed for home. So now onto Tuesday when after an interesting lab session on crustaceans I decided to make the most of yet another glorious day and so rather than sitting on the beach I decided to walk to Poole from Bournemouth along the beach via Sandbanks. Honestly it was an amazing day for it. The first bird sighting of the day was infact one of the Peregrines sitting on the clock tower in Lansdown. Its amazing to think that many people pass by these Peregrines daily and simply don't know that they are there. In this case the bird present seemed to be ready and waiting to hunt as it clocked everything that went by including myself. Above: Peregrine The rest of my walk from an Ornithological point of view was pretty uninteresting, however the fact that I was in short sleeves and there were several Sandwich Tern fishing offshore it sure felt like your typical Summer birding season. Usually at this time of year the choppy seas attract Gannet, Divers, and Grebes, but on the calm flat ocean today it was over to the summer visitors. Above: Sandwich Tern By the time I reached the Poole Harbour side of the Sand Banks spit the sun had started to set and honestly it was also starting to get a little chilly however the weather and the sunset took me back to a quite place, a place where I could relax and also it just felt like I was on holiday. It was a surreal feeling for February and to top things of in the final rays of light I picked up a couple of Med Gull and a Sparrowhawk as well as 2 Turnstone which dropped onto the shoreline by my feet. It was a nice peaceful way to end a busy day at uni. I have to admit that it was an amazing sunset and to watch as the sun set behind Brownsea Island was amazing and so after a 4 hour walk I decided to head for home. And so now onto yesterday. I have to admit I wasn't prepared for just how cold it was as for when I reached Blashford Lakes it was still minus 2. The sun was however shinning and just like in recent days by the time I had finished the mornings ringing session it was a balmy 16 degrees. In the 5 hour ringing session we managed to ring Blue Tits, a Goldcrest, a Dunnock, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Reed Bunting, a Goldfinch and several Great Tit. It was good to be able to handle a range of different species again and also to be able to practise learning how to take the important measurements like wing length and the weight of the bird. Above: Male Great Spotted Woodpecker Below: Goldfinch After we had finished the ringing I decided to head round on my normal circuit. My first stop was the Ivy South Hide where it was unusually quiet. A Great Crested Grebe was however the star species here as it displayed right in front of the hide. A Common Buzzard also drifted over otherwise it was just the regular Tufted Duck, Coot, Pochard and the 4 Wigeon that seem to prefer this lake rather than the more suitable ones for them. Above: Great Crested Grebe After this I decided to head to the woodland hide where again it was unusually quiet with only one Siskin present which was odd for the time of year, but actually to be expected given the conditions. There were however a large amount of Reed Bunting visiting the feeding stations as well as good numbers of the resident Tit species and also a large number of Chaffinch. Above: Ringed Male Reed Bunting After this visit to the woodland hide I decided to head to Ivy North, however I was stopped in my tracks as I spotted not one but 5 mouse like Treecreepers feeding on a nearby tree with several in full high pitched song. I watched them for a couple of minutes as they scurried up the trunks of the nearby trees taking insect after insect. Once in Ivy North it was a similar story to my most recent visits with no sign of the Bittern. I spent an hour in the hide but the most interesting thing I saw was my lunch. Well that would have been the case if not one but 2 blue bullets flew past the hide heading towards the Ivy South. They were of course Kingfishers and somehow marks an incredible run of me seeing this species in recent times. They keep cropping up everywhere and I have to admit I am enjoying it. Who doesn't love the squeaky toy that is the bright blue colourful Kingfisher. Cetti's Warblers, Reed Bunting and Chiffchaff also sang outside the hide and a Peacock Butterfly was sunning itself on a reed mace, but none of these will ever top seeing a Kingfisher. I then headed up to the Lapwing hide where in the distance Lapwing could be seen alongside several roosting Goosander. Otherwise compared to recent visits it was actually hard to see what was about. There weren't as many gulls as usual with perhaps only 100 each of Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed. 3 female Goldeneye could be seen in and amongst the Pochard and Tufted Duck, but no Drakes. The numbers of Grebes had risen with a raft of Great Crested Grebe out in the middle and quite a few Little Grebes around the outside of the lake. Otherwise it was quite bar a Wigeon and a Greylag flock. I couldn't stay in the hide any longer as the strength of the sun was making it incredibly hot and I have to admit I started to worry about getting sun burnt. So I moved on towards the Goosander Hide. Along the way I saw several small Butterflies around the tops of the trees that were mixed in with the reedbeds and although I didn't see one settled they didn't seem to remind me of any species I had seen before. The pattern that I could see was similar to that of a Small Copper, but they weren't small enough... I wonder if they were some sort of Fritillary out rather too early. However a Chiffchaff singing from the woods in the same place is a sign that spring was certainly in full blast here. Once in the hide I set about scanning the raft of Tufted Duck in front picking out a female Goldeneye, Pochard, and several Pairs of Shoveler. Coot were also present along with a few Great Crested Grebe, and Little Grebe as well. Meadow Pipit were disturbed from their feeding off to the right of the hide by two tussling Rabbits and all in general was rather tranquil and quiet. After a while I had to leave the hide again due to the strength of the sun and the fact that the hide was getting uncomfortably warm and so I headed back to Ivy North hide for another brief go at the Bittern, however unfortunately only a Med Gull, a Water Rail and possibly close to 200 Cormorant heading into roost were the best bit from the hide. So in the end I decided to head to the bus stop and headed for home to the sound of Oystercatchers flying over head.
These past few days have been a stark reminder to how our climate is changing however they have also been tranquil and peaceful and have given me a chance to relax. I now cant wait for the proper start of spring tomorrow and I wonder what lies in store for my first spring along the South Coast!?
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AuthorI have been a birder since I was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 18. ArchivesCategories |