White Storks in Lidsey

3 White Storks .

A trip to Lidsey on Sunday morning for the 3 White Storks that had settled down in a field near by proved very successful   , i had to go via B&Q as wellingtons were essential as the track to the viewing area was under water , these birds are probably the first wild White Storks i have seen in the UK , i have seen two individuals on separate occasions in Kent , one i know was an escape but the second bird i am not sure about .

One of the Storks taking off .

I watched them feeding very well on toads and frogs before they flew very low over the railway track into the next field , if a train came by at that point they would have been killed .

Two of the Storks just stood preening themselves while the third bird walked around disappearing at one point down into a ditch , really good birds to see , other birds of note in the area were Little Egret , Grey Heron and lots of Yellowhammer which was pleasing to see .

On its way to a ditch.

Pennington Marshes and New Forest

Adult Black Winged Stilt.

Taking advantage of the long diamond jubilee weekend on Monday the 4th June i headed to Pennington Marshes for the 2 Black Winged Stilts and the  adult Night Heron , i arrived on site in good time and made my way to the Shoveler pool and had some fantastic views of both the Black Winged Stilts , an adult and juvenile ,  i took a couple of hundred photos and here are a selection of them :

Juv. Black Winged Stilt.

The Juvenile bird did not come as close as the adult , the juv bird was alot browner on the mantle and wings and also had alot more brown on the crown and ear coverts , they flew around a couple of times and the adult bird often called when the Black Headed Gulls got to close for comfort . 

I watched these for over an hour and then walked to the area the Night Heron was showing , this was pretty hard to see as you had to look through a very dense hedge row and across a pool and the bird was partially hidden in a tree , however i managed to see it through my scope with little chance of getting a photo, i did add 2 Med Gulls which flew over head from this site and then i decided to head off to the New Forest .

Male Common Redstart .

The first site i stopped at was called " Pigs Bush " strange names these places have , anyhow i was straight onto a male Common Redstart as i left the car park , these are really smart birds to see , as i walked around this part of the forest i heard Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers and then i saw a young Common Redstart , and then more appeared they looked like they had on just fledged and these are the first young Redstarts i have been lucky enough to have seen , Marsh . Blue and Long Tailed Tits put in an appearance , i also had a look over the nearby heathland and added this Small Heath to my day .

Small Heath .

On my way back to the car i added Nuthatch and a family party of Spotted Flycatchers to my days total .

Spotted Flycatcher.

My final destination of the day was north of Lyndhurst and i hoped to connect with one or two specialty birds and after a short while i found the first of my target birds in a very showy Woodlark which had food in its beak which you can only hope it was off to feed its young .

Woodlark with food for its young.

 There were 2 Woodlarks in total here or though probably more if you ventured out in to the nearby heathland , my other target bird was proving more tricky as expected but after a while i picked out a distant Goshawk which came closer then eventually was lost to view  .

Osprey at Stodmarsh

Osprey at Stodmarsh

I received a text message from Martyn Wilson about a Osprey over Stodmarsh on Sunday morning , and later in the morning Chidders phoned to say it was still present so i headed over there just in time to see it  over the main lake , it hovered on one occasion and then flew towards Grove then circled back and then headed off with purpose towards Collards , this is only the second Osprey i have seen at Stodmarsh and very nice it was to , many thanks to both Martyn and Chidders for their info , they also have some good photos on their blogs which are well worth seeing . Here are some more record shots that i took :

Osprey.

Stodmarsh Terns up the Goods.......

White Winged Black Tern .

Firstly sorry about the cheesy title of this post ....lol , however on hearing news about 2 adult White Winged Terns  at Stodmarsh yesterday i couldn't resist going to see them , i have had a really long depressing week at work and these were the right medicine to cheer me up , Congratulations to Martyn Wilson who found these stunning birds , on his birthday too !! .

Underwing shot of White Winged Black Tern .

I met up with Martyn , Chidders , Marc  and Adam  along the Lampen wall overlooking the main lake where the 2 Terns put on an amazing display for us all flying directly over head at times , whilst we were watching the main attraction Marc Heath picked out a Sandwich Tern which is a real rarity in the Valley , there were several Common Terns nearby plus a good number of Hobbies zipping about , i watched these birds for approx an hour when Martyn , Chidders and Adam went off towards the Water meadows and i had loads to do at home , so a really enjoyable session with great company .

                                                                            

Plenty of Hobby.........At Grove Ferry

One of Many Hobby .

I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours at Grove Ferry yesterday morning granted i had missed the main birding event in the shape of  2 Honey Buzzards drifting over the reserve before i got there , however that did not dampen my spirits, on my way to the viewing ramp i heard then saw a smart Lesser Whitethroat right at the beginning of the path , i bumped into Martyn Wilson on the viewing ramp before he headed off to Collards Lake and he kindly informed whats around the reserve , whilst on the ramp Martyn picked out a Common Sandpiper flying low over the flood , this is only the 2 nd one i have seen this year , it did not take long for the first Hobby to appear with 4 birds right over head , really like these falcons and the views were amazing , although my photos don't do them any justice .

Another Hobby.

Marsh Harrier and Common Buzzard were added from the ramp before i headed of to the Paddocks and i instantly heard another Lesser Whitethroat  and with a bit of patience it eventually showed itself , i also heard a Turtle Dove " purring " but alas i could not locate it , its been a couple of years since i have had any type of view of these smart doves whereas years gone by they were quite plentiful , i could hear in the distance a Cuckoo then 2 birds flew right in front of me , i managed a photo , just !

Brief view of a Cuckoo .

I continued my walk along the river where i saw a male Bullfinch in more or less the same area last time i did this walk , there were plenty of birds in song , mainly Cettis , Chiffchaff and Sedge Warblers  , a Green Woodpecker flew over my head and Hobby seemed to be everywhere , i counted 10 birds in the air at once but i would guess there were plenty more , i left the river walk and took the trail towards Harrions Drove but was put off going to the hide as a quite large party of non birding people were heading towards the hide so i cut back across towards the ramp , on route i had very brief views of some Bearded Tits which are always great to see but sadly they never gave themselves up to my camera , eventually i manged to pin point a very showy Sedge Warbler .

A really showy Sedge Warbler .

A really pleasant mornings birding in nice conditions was had here and i mustn't leave it so long before my next visit .

Nightjar in daylight....... Plus Squacco

Adult Squacco Heron.

I  headed to Blagdon Lake in Somerset for the smart looking Squacco Heron which was  only my 2nd in the UK , i was straight on the bird when i arrived , these have to be one of my favourite herons , i carried on to the car park  , on my walk back i saw the Squacco flying off and luckily it landed in the nearby bushes where it was perched out in the open .

Squacco climbing through the bushes .

The Squacco Heron spent alot of the time preening giving me a real treat of its fine plumage and every now and again it would spread its brilliant white wings which was stunning to see , it also had a curious habit of breaking off reed steams and then just dropping them , i enjoyed watching this bird for over an hour plus there were several Reed Warblers nearby being very vocal , i also saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker flying over head and landing in a nearby tree , there were up to 3 Common Buzzards soaring over head .

Common Buzzard .

I had heard news  of a Nightjar  perched at the bottom of a rose bush in Pagham and as it was on my route back i headed off to Pagham , i arrived in good time and after a little confusion of where to go i finally found my self on the right path and was soon enjoying fantastic views of a Nightjar in daylight .

Stunning view of a Nightjar .

This is by far the best view of a Nightjar i have ever had , i have seen them many times over the years . even perched on tree branches but never so close and in broad daylight , simply a stunning birding experience .

Another view of the Nightjar .

I also heard Cettis Warbler plus had some brief views of Reed Warbler , i also heard a distant Corn Bunting , a really great day out .