Through the Trees (Part II) - The Handsome Family

WITH FLASHPLAYER IN PLACE WE HAVE NO IDEA WHY

VIDEO CLIPS ARE NOT SHOWING - APOLOGIES.

Dave had already been in the Tern Hide for half an hour before my arrival, so well able to point out what little was of main interest. This included the Slavonian and Black-necked Grebe of my previous visit, but also a gaggle of

GREYLAG GEESE

heard long before entering the hide and absent at the last visit as were

a bunch of very distant Goosander. Also present before were

 PINTAIL

in flight

male PINTAIL sleeping

male PINTAIL with glimpes of male WIGEON and

female WIGEON

male PINTAIL encountering female TEAL

 SHOVELER

 with more arriving.

mostly male SHOVELER with brief female

male GOLDENEYE (preening)

male GOLDENEYE, showing early but brief display

along with a trio of aggressive

POCHARD

With once again not a Gull in sight it was decided to visit the 

Woodland side of the Reserve maybe giving the Gulls 

a bit of time to come in to roost. There we found in quick succession

 

CHAFFINCH

 Lots of

 most obliging

SISKIN

 LONG-TAILED TIT

feeding on the ground, which is not unheard of but somewhat unusual

to their preferred foraging of dense foliage, and a single

DUNNOCK
Moving on to the Woodland Hide where all but one of the windows
are 'smoked', to prevent the human activity within spooking the feeding
birds, there was no delay in locating c4

BRAMBLING

the 'northern version of our far more familiar Chaffinch
also seen on these clips.

GREY SQUIRREL with BLACKBIRDs

While we did stop briefly to admire the
WITCH'S BROOMS

which seemed to be exclusively favouring just 2 of the
SILVER BIRCH

there were now 'hopefully' bigger fish to fry! There was a method to our visit here and in pursuit of these 2 Gulls, both rare visitors to our shores, we had forsaken the possible chances of recording Great White Egret and Bittern, maybe another day?

Back at the Tern hide and amazingly finding a seat at the viewing ports,
Gulls were already flying in to roost. No prizes for guessing who spotted the

 CASPIAN GULL
first

 but I did tell Dave right away,
oh that's another 2 feet added to the length of the proboscis!

A 'scarce' vagrant which mostly breeds around the Black and Caspian Sea,
but has a wide distribution across much of Europe, Asia and even North Africa.

 A couple more 'grainy' shots from the

 small Canon at 50X zoom.

CASPIAN GULL
In quick succession there was an alert that the

RING-BILLED GULL

had also joined the growing throng, but unfortunately twice the distance
of the Caspian, so again we rely on the archive to illustrate this 'scarce'
Gull which hails from the Americas.

On my way back to base a third attempt this year was made for the

FERRUGINOUS DUCK
which for a number of years has over-wintered on Kingfisher Lake,
part of the Blashford chain of redundant gravel pits but only viewable
from Hurst Road a little further south. Another vagrant from
Central Europe which proved to be Third Time Lucky.
(this image is also from the Library for illustration)

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Through the Trees (Part I) - The Handsome Family

Back in those heady days when an annual subscription to Classic Rock Magazine was more important than life itself, it was the vehicle that brought the very nuance of Rock 'n' Roll to me! Had it not been for that periodical, sometimes carrying a sampler disc of various up and coming bands, Los Handsome's may never have reach my turntable but even then it wasn't until 1998, and this particular album, when the band was already 5 years in the making that they came to my attention. The style of husband and wife team Brett and Rennie Sparks, described as 'Alternative Country/Americana', is certainly pleasant enough on the ear, but its those lyrics that do it for me which I can only described as Laughable Tragedy. It was only my wandering through so many trees on this particular day that brought this fine and amusing set back to mind. We've been playing it all day since!

Weightless Again from the album 

Through the Trees

We stopped for coffee in the redwood forest
Giant dripping leaves spoons of powdered cream
I wanted to kiss you but I wasn't sure how
Like those Indians lost in the rain forest

Forced to drag burning wood wherever they went
They had all forgotten how to start a fire
This is why people OD on pills and jump from the
Golden Gate Bridge anything to feel weightless again
Those poor lost Indians!

Partly inspired by our friend Dave Foot and equally driven by the hard frost of a few days ago, it was decided to investigate the now completed Phase III of the Solar Panel Complex. Almost entirely throughout the very speedy construction period the whole area has been a quagmire necessitating the laying of huge wooden boards to allow the delivery lorries and other plant to get anywhere near the place, and how the engineers maintained a foothold on site is not known. On the way there the usual daily rounds were followed and on a frozen

 IRRIGATION POND

 it was seen that there 2

CANADA GEESE

 had forced an ice hole (had to be a little cautious with the wording there).

With the exception of the now regular pair of Roe Deer there was 

nothing else of note so quickly on to the Gravel Pit and to find some

 Strange Behaviour going on. The long staying

LITTLE GREBE

was still in attendance but for the first time in an age there were other Wildfowl.

 As if like a puppy that had been unattended for a period of time the

Grebe was following the pair of MALLARD around the pond never

more than a few feet away during the 15 minute observation period.

The next stop was to have been the afore mentioned compound, but that's when the phone burst into life and was, most coincidentally Mr Foot. At the time circumnavigating the rim of Poole Harbour, his intention was, on completion, to pay a visit to Blashford and asked me to join him. Luckily my Hampshire Visa was still in order so we agreed to meet at the Tern Hide at noon.

 Continuing my venture, this is the track where the boards once lay, and by the look of my own tyre tracks it looked this was the first time it had been used since. The ground seemed firm enough but it wasn't without a degree of trepidation that we continued. Great to see that in line with the other installations, saplings have been planted around the perimeter fence which was another thrust of the visit, to see if there was access all the way round. In the event it was found that at the far end of this fence there is a length where both boundaries meet making it all but impossible to pass. A fantastic deterrent as this will make this yet another undisturbed area for Wildlife. It was good to see, as predicted, "earth as hard as iron and water like a stone" which made it relatively easy and dry walking to the first destination. No more than a dozen paces in and a

 JACK SNIPE

was flushed, adding to the Year List and hopefully being the harbinger

of more to come. No chance of a photo so this image has been 'borrowed'

from Wikipedia for illustration.

 Prior to the panels, most of this area was given over to grazing Horses

with most of it turned over to grass with just the odd cluster of Gorse

here and there. Otherwise, little damage was done to any of the surrounding

trees except for a little pruning of the nearest, and maybe encroaching, 

 SALLOW

These stumps were one of the objects of this exercise which Dave

 had informed me might attract breeding

LUNAR HORNET MOTH
(image on lone from a fellow Moth'er)

Showing him these images later in the day it was disappointing to find

that in his opinion they are unlikely to be colonised as being too far off the ground.

These very fussy insects it would seem prefer the stumps to be sawn at ground level.

All is not lost as there has to be a chainsaw or two somewhere on the farm,

so further consultations will follow.

 FROZEN SOLAR PANELS

Continuing the search, decent numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing

were encountered along with a flighty bunch of Bullfinch, while this

 COMMON SNIPE

was found sleeping on the edge of the now receding Moors River.

The likelihood of anything new on Merritown Heath was considered slim

so, cutting our losses (maybe the wrong expression) we decided to head for

The New Forest.

Our recent visit to Eyeworth Pond and its surrounds had turn up a 'blank', except for the obliging Muscovy Duck and a Nuthatch, so another visit was quiet in order as there was time to spare and we were going to Hants anyway. Over the years this beautiful area has become a 'feeding station' for passerine birds and Waterfowl alike, the food being provided by the visiting public. With seeds scattered all over the gates and fence posts and fat balls hung in trees, this allows close viewing of many of our more common woodland birds - just sit in the car and wait. Here is just a taste of the hour spent there (without, once again, seeing a Mandarin Duck).

 BLUE TIT

 BLUE TIT with GREAT TIT

 HOUSE SPARROW

 COAL TIT

 NUTHATCH

 2? Greedy

 NUTHATCH

 GREAT TIT

 ROBIN

 MARSH TIT

 and finally for Part I a couple of examples of

NEW FOREST PONY
The Pony images were taken during a last ditch effort across the top of
The New Forest
in search of Woodlark, Hawfinch, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker etc
none of which were seen before meeting up with Dave in the Tern Hide, Blashford.

Part II should follow shortly!

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The welcome return of Singapore - or Singers as us ex-Matelots remember it!