Emergency Headline - Must Get Posted

Hope this can be discerned, the fern and feather like frost pattens 

on the car windscreen this morning.

Another visit to Longham Lakes today enjoying both a spell of good weather and the long awaited sighting of a

REED BUNTING*

In fact there were c3 in total but my attention was turned to

this male
BULLFINCH

seemingly contented feeding on ASH mast

while in company with another male and a female.

c2 CETTI'S WARBLER
were on show but only until a

SPARROWHAWK
flew overhead.

As if there were not enough 'hunters about a
KESTRAL
joined the list along with a scavenging

RAVEN

NUTHATCH

more

REED BUNTING

and COMMON BUZZARD
PS - Internet still playing up!
It's working fine until someone logs on, then **** 

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	780
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Russia	27
France	25
India	19
China	16

Old Red-eyes Is Back - The Beautiful South

The is no doubting the volume of water that has fallen on the country over the last few weeks, but if there is an up-side to this the climate has been unseasonably mild. On the strength of that, and with a little coaxing from my mentor, it was decided to run a single Moth Trap last night with a 'posative' result. OK, only a single Insect but from tiny Acorns mighty Oaks do grow. There perched on the top of the very first egg tray was our first 'identifiable' Moth a

CHESTNUT

The distinction is made between 'identifiable' as there were c2
Moths flying around the security lights just a few nights ago.

Again the forecaster foretold of more precipitation and arriving at Longham Lake there were signs of it all around me.

The occasional RAINBOW looked beautiful arcing the lake,

but on 'reflection' this looked slightly better.

PIED WAGTAIL

Still the odd stand of FUNGI about.

This is the 'fence line' in the meadows to the north of the lakes.

Prospects of finer weather and the onset of Spring the first
CATKINS
bursting through.

These images certainly give a false impression of the prevailing weather conditions as I arrived at the furthest point from shelter. However, the rain bearing cloud setting in from the south west missed me by inches as the village of Longham took the full brunt of the downpour. Pheeeewww! This

BLACK-NECKED GREBE

which has been here a few weeks now has been seen on every

visit so far this year, but today was the closest to land thus far.

Fantastic views through the telescope of those piercing 'red eyes'.

Here comes another soaking but luckily the car was close at hand
'Gimme Shelter' - The Rolling Stones.
After the rain

GREY HERON

the anglers friends
CORMORANT

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

and CHAFFINCH

Once again not even a tweet from a Reed Bunting which must be a record-breaker for this very common bird, never having waited 18 days into any year to record one! However, just when it was thought today would be another 'blank' for the Year List, a wander down to Janet's brother's paddocks produced a

 BARN OWL* (Wiki image)

where between us we found them breeding last year.

Unfortunately, I have never photographed this beautiful creature.

                         UK           Dorset

01/01                 73                0

02/01                 91                0

03/01                 97                0

04/01               102                0

05/01               108                7

06/01               124              51

07/01               124              78

08/01               134              94

09/01               137            107  

10/01               141            118
11/01               145            121
13/01               152            126
14/01               156            126 

15/01               No additions

16/01               158            128 

17/01               159            129

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United Kingdom	848
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Germany	128
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Canada	35
Ukraine	29
Russia	28
France	22
India	18
Australia	14

On the Wings of Love - Jeffrey Osborne

Thursday came and Thursday went but still no positive news about the Internet. I had to go to Weymouth on another matter so made an early start and visited a few potential bird sites on the way. Common Crane is already on the Year List but to see such scarce visitors to the County at anytime is considered a treat. With the c2 1st winter (young) birds still frequenting fields in the Puddletown area and now favouring a different location that was to be the first challenge of the day. Piddles and Puddles are familiar Dorset names around that area for the likes of the River Piddle, Piddlehinton village or

 BRIANTSPUDDLE

 close to where the Cranes were last seen.

 I don't remember the last time a visit was paid to this beautiful locale but it must have been when my 2 daughters were still at school. What had slipped the memory was the narrowness of the country lanes and add to that continues heavy rain the search was in vain. Otherwise the success rate for the day was 50 - 50. At Oakers Wood a

LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER*

was 'heard' only with the photo, along with the 2 below, coming from the archive. Later in the day I heard from a fellow birder that he too had seen the Marsh Tit of the 13th but not the Woodpecker. Next stop Portland Harbour (north) and almost immediately getting onto the over-wintering

RED-NECKED GREBE*

which was more or less in company with c5 Black-necked Grebes.

Through the murk the
Royal Fleet Auxiliary Logistics Vessel
LYME BAY

could be seen, and while once again the Black Guillemot and Black-throated Diver were on view nothing was seen of the Long-tailed Duck or the Eider. Other than that my business was completed there so, through continuing rain, I headed back east. A brief visit to a still flooded Avon Causeway didn't produce the sort after Egyptian Goose so a hour was spent at Longham Lakes simply 'clicking away' at anything that graced the viewfinder!

For whatever reason lots of the birds here seemed disturbed and were on the wing including

LITTLE EGRET

HERRING GULL

MUTE SWAN

WIGEON

along with the
THOMSON SPECIAL
out of Bournemouth International Airport.

The exception to all of these was this strangely pale
MALLARD.

To complete today's Post an embarrassingly poor shot of the
KINGFISHER
seen here on Sunday 12th inst.

                         UK           Dorset

01/01                 73                0

02/01                 91                0

03/01                 97                0

04/01               102                0

05/01               108                7

06/01               124              51

07/01               124              78

08/01               134              94

09/01               137            107  

10/01               141            118
11/01               145            121
13/01               152            126
14/01               156            126 

15/01               No additions

16/01               158            128

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United Kingdom	851
United States	732
Germany	113
Estonia	49
Canada	43
Russia	36
India	26
Ukraine	18
France	17
Australia	16

White Bird - It's A Beautiful Day

Given the ongoing Internet problems some morning (birding) time has had to be spent in the office getting Posts away, but on such a bright, sunny and still day this was undertaken in quick time. By 10:30 we were on our way to Blashford Lakes in Hampshire, just a 15 minute drive from here, with the prospects of a few goodies to add to the Year List. The car parks here were full, but by and large the hides were empty as I made for the

 WOODLAND HIDE

and possibly the best bird of the day? There was little, if any wait

for this little sparkler to be seen as the

 MEALY REDPOLL*

 was perched on a 'feeder' just waiting for me!

 Only one person between me and these photographs,

 who kindly conceded allowing me access to the only opening

window in this hide. As luck would have it just as this bird flew

into the trees it was replaced by a much more common

 LESSER REDPOLL

 for comparison.

 Also on the feeders were a good number of

SISKIN (with a single Lesser Redpoll)

while the trees close by seemed to be full of both species.

 A brief appearance of a

NUTHATCH

before continuing to the

On the way an 'overwintering'

 CHIFFCHAFF*

was spotted on the other side of a small lake of unknown name.

Entering the hide I was met by an excitable gentleman gesticulating
towards the open window through which this is what met the eye

GREAT WHITE EGRET*

'Ringed' on the left leg

this beauty that has been on or visiting the reserve for a number of years now.
 White Bird Link - Them Was The Days!

SONG THRUSH

WREN

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

ROBIN

and BITTERN
have all been seen elsewhere this year, but always good to come
across particularly if they allow the camera to focus.

On the other hand

TREECREEPER*

was a new bird for the year, albeit in Hampshire, which took a bit of time to find. Always in residence in the wooded area between the hides, this bird took a total of about 45 minutes to find eventually being located on 'call'. Ibsley Water, across the road from the woodland area, could have added Ruddy Duck, Merlin, Peregrine etc to the list but not there during my stay. Plenty of wildfowl included c2 Black-necked Grebe, Egyptian Geese, Goldeneye, lots of Pintail and Wigeon, all too distant to photograph, while

GOOSANDER
c2 females left and male right almost fell into the same category.

A final fly-past of
GREYLAG GEESE
put an end to the birding leaving me buzzzzzzing!

                         UK           Dorset

01/01                 73                0

02/01                 91                0

03/01                 97                0

04/01               102                0

05/01               108                7

06/01               124              51

07/01               124              78

08/01               134              94

09/01               137            107  

10/01               141            118
11/01               145            121
13/01               152            126
14/01               156            126

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	874
United States	735
Germany	98
Estonia	49
Russia	49
Canada	41
India	26
Ukraine	18
China	15
Australia	14