Dartford Warbler .
I headed of to the New Forest for a planned days birding , my first destination was to a well know site for Goshawk , on arrival at about 8 am the weather conditions left me feeling a little bit pessimistic on my chances of seeing any as it was quite overcast with a cold wind , however after about half an hour a Common Buzzard drifted over head which made me think well maybe i might get lucky , a couple of Goldcrest kept me company at times , i picked out a distant Goshawk and enjoyed this magnificent bird through my scope , i also saw a second bird and then they started displaying which was awesome to see , in total i had 3 Goshawks up in the air together plus 3 Common Buzzards and a single Sparrowhawk .
I spent quite some time here then headed of to look for some Dartford Warblers near Denny Wood , well after checking my normal area and drawing a blank i decided to check a new area which also had recently held a wintering Great Grey Shrike , as i walked along the track i scanned across some gorse bushes and would you believe it a smart male Dartford Warbler was perched right on top , i had some really good views of this bird through the scope .
Dartford Warbler .
I had 2 Dartford Warblers in total here plus a smart pair of Stonechats keeping them company , there were several Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings nearby plus a Raven honked overhead and land on a telephone mast .
Raven on telephone mast.
i then headed further into the forest to try and see the Great Grey Shrike without success however i found a single Chiffchaff which is my first of the year , a couple of Long Tailed Tits put in an appearance , i then popped into Blashford Lakes and had distant views of 4 Black Necked Grebes of which 2 were in full summer plumage , there were approx 6 Goosanders , several Goldeneye and large numbers of Gadwall , Teal , Shoverler , Tufted Duck and Pochard , There was also Little Grebe and Great Crested Grebe and then i located a smart Yellow Legged Gull which was a year tick .
Adult Summer Med Gull.
My final destination of the day was Gosport to look for the Ring Billed Gull , i had got the tide wrong and there was no sign of it however i did see this smart adult summer Med Gull in all its glory, what smart birds these are .
Med Gull in flight.
