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

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