European Bee-eater on Isle of Wight.
On Saturday the 2nd August my destination was the Isle of Wight to try and see the recently revealed breeding Bee-eaters , i got an early ferry from Portsmouth and reached my destination near Niton at approx 7.30am , i set up my scope near the viewing area the Natural trust / RSPB had set up to restrict any disturbance to the birds and sure enough after approx 20 mins the first Bee-eater made an appearance .
1 of 3 Bee-eaters seen.
These are really stunning birds to see and was a very welcome year tick , i never tire of seeing these delightful birds . they were actively catching bee's & dragonfly's , i saw 3 adult birds together at one point although there were 4 birds seen together later in the day.
Tasty looking dragonfly.
The weather become overcast and then it started to rain and the Bee-eaters had departed to get some shelter so i headed off to try and see some Red Squirrels at Alverstone Mead reserve , what a great reserve it was to , on my walk to the hide i saw a very close Common Buzzard.
Common Buzzard
Having a preen.
I also heard Spotted Flycatcher and Grasshopper Warbler before i reached the hide and then it was Red Squirrel time , absolutely stunning views of these fantastic critters , they were not bothered by my presence at all and even went inside of the hide to gobble up on the food left out for them , here are just a small selection of pics.
I can see you.
Cracking Red Squirrel.
So agile.
Bushy tail.
Young one .
I really enjoyed seeing these and wanted to take one home lol , the weather cleared up and i headed back to have another look at the Bee-eaters before catching the 4 pm ferry back to Portsmouth , what a great trip and it wasn't over yet , i got back in good time and called into Siddlesham Ferry to try and see the family of Black Winged Stils that had recently breed near Pagham and was not disappointed .
One of the 3 youngsters
Coming into land.
All 5 birds in flight.
Having a feed .
These are great birds to watch and i have been very lucky to be able to witness such a success story in two very rare breeding birds in the UK .
I had a quick look around Church Norten and added several Whimbrel and a couple of Med Gulls to my trip list.
