15th April - North West Hampshire

Today I set off in a different direction to the north west border of Hampshire, it was very nice to drive through some different countryside as the sun came up in partially clear skies.  I was meeting Ian at a location just outside the village of Over Wallop.  We have been here at this time of year for the last two years in search of Stone Curlew.  I arrived first and as I sorted myself out I noticed Ian's van stop at the bottom of the lane and him get out.  I debated whether to go down to see what was going on, didn't move and regretted it when he eventually joined me.  He had seen a Tawny Owl in the trees.

Whilst it was a dry sunny start it was cold with a fresh northerly wind blowing.  We set off west down the bridleway, above us the Rooks were calling from there rookery and in the fields there several Stock Dove.  Coming out into the open both Blackcap and Chiffchaff were singing in the surrounding bushes.  A little further along we heard what seemed to be quite close the call of a Stone Curlew, but a search of the fields on both sides of the bridleway revealed nothing other than a couple of Brown Hare.

On reaching the "T" junction with the main bridleway that runs north to south, the scene behind us was quite superb, sunrise at his time of year is always spectacular

We could hear every so often the calls of the Stone Curlew coming from west of the path.  The field in front of us was full of rapeseed that was just coming into flower and would hide almost everything if it was in the field.  We opted to turn left and head south in the bushes we could hear the jangling song of Corn Bunting and above us in the morning sun was the first yellowhammer of the year.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was a surprise flying across the field and settling in the hawthorn bush.

We were continually scanning the fields with thermal cameras but this on revealed many skylark in the fields and no Stone Curlew.  The view looking south along the bridleway with the water tank in the distance.

We were still hearing the calls of the Stone Curlew and decided to turn back and head north.  The Corn Bunting would sing from the top of the path, and then as we approached would fly into the middle of the rape field and sit on the top of the flower heads in the sunshine.

A male Wheatear, the first of the year, then flew across the open field and up into the hawthorn bushes.  This was the best I could get.

Ian then picked up a Brown Hare running down the edge of the rape field.

It would pause every so often and sit in the sunshine.

As it came closer it became clear as to why it was keen to warm up in the sun, the fur was drenched with dew from moving through the wet grass.

Happy to sit in the sun it proceeded to preen, taking advantage of the dew to have a real good wash.

While we waited to see if it would stop preening to come closer we could still hear the Stone Curlew calling.  When it became clear that it was quite happy in the sunshine and shelter we decided to walk on.

This Corn Bunting was singing from the top of the bushes, and for once did not fly off.

We found a spot where could look across the rape field towards the cleared patches which ere on the other side of the rape.  We could hear the Stone Curlew calling and they were very vocal.  Our patience was rewarded when two birds could be seen flying around calling above the area.  In flight the wing bars a contrast of black and white was very clear.  Unfortunately we only had a brief view, but enough to confirm identification.  We stuck it out in hope of more sightings, a Buzzard flew low over the spot and we had a very quick view of one as it flew up in alarm, but that was it.  We continued to hear the calls from different parts of the area so we know there had to be at last three pairs, maybe more.  But the only view we had was this across the rape field towards the hills at the back of the MOD land.

In the first year we came the field to behind this view was left to fallow and the Stone Curlew showed well in there, last year they were around the patches in the field to the south, but this year with a lot of rape being grown it was difficult to see them.  Hopefully the next year there will be some fallow fields once again.

We decided to head back to the cars and move on, we wanted to keep in the same area so opted for Martin Down, which was a thirty minute drive across the downs and through Salisbury.  Parking in the lower car park there were Blackcap and Chiffchaff singing.  This is one of my favourite places and it is always nice to visit at the start of spring.  We walked along the main path south west towards the Bokerley Ditch.  Along the ridge a Red Kite was using the uplift, then dropped to pick up something from the ground.

It was not possible to see what it had picked up, but it attracted the attention of a Buzzard that chased and harrassed the Kite.

It flew off away from us and we thought it had gone, but then came back almost over our heads.

It then disappeared over the bushes and covered a huge amount of ground quickly to next be seen over the ditch and heading away and out of sight.

We made our way to the ditch with the magnificent view behind us.

The ditch itself was almost empty of the thick dense vegetation that starts to go fom May onwards, there were very little flowering plants about so our hope of some butterflies was probably not going to happen.  What flowers present were mostly Dandelion, but there were signs of cowslips emerging and some were well developed.

There were also several clumps of the purple Dog Violets.

We followed the ditch to the intersection with the Jubilee Trail which heads south west alongside Blagdon Plantation.  A Chiffchaff was very vocal by the start of the footpath and showed very well in amongst the Blackthorn blossom.

The common chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita), or simply the chiffchaff, is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic.

The British naturalist Gilbert White was one of the first people to separate the similar-looking common Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Wood Warbler by their songs.

But the Chiffchaff is more complicated and is known to have three commonly accepted subspecies, together with birds from the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, and the Caucasus which are now more often treated as full species.

The nominate species P. c. collybita  breeds in Europe east to Poland and Bulgaria,

P. c. abietinus occurs in Scandinavia and northern Russia, and winters from southeastern Europe and northeastern Africa east to Iraq and western Iran.

P. c. tristis, the Siberian chiffchaff, breeds in Siberia east of the Pechora River and winters in the lower Himalayas.

Of the former sub species these are:

The Iberian Chiffchaff is brighter, greener on the rump, and yellower below than P. collybita, and has a tit-tit-tit-tswee-tswee song. 

The Canary Islands Chiffchaff is a non-migratory species formerly occurring on the major Canary Islands, which is differentiated from P. collybita by morphology, vocalisations and genetic characteristics, and, of course, is not sympatric with any other chiffchaffs.

The Mountain Chiffchaff, is found in the Caucasus (P. s. lorenzii) and Himalayas (P. s. sindianus), and is an altitudinal migrant, moving to lower levels in winter.

The female builds a domed nest on or near the ground and assumes most of the responsibility for brooding and feeding the chicks, whilst the male has little involvement in nesting, but defends his territory against rivals, and attacks potential predators.

At this time of year they are easy to see when singing amongst the leafless trees.  I always find i take a lot of photographs around now, then leave them to it.

It is nice to catch them in amongst the first spring blossoms and dare question anyone who doesn't appreciate their song at this time of year.

We left the Chiffchaff singing away and headed along the footpath, the fields to the north of the plantation and path are normally a good place to see Brown Hare, I managed to find one distantly laid down and almost out of sight.

About half way along the path by the plantation there is a clump of conifers and as we passed there was a Goldcrest singing, but strangely we only saw amongst the branches and surrounding bramble a pair of Firecrests.

They showed well

Asked if I would ever tire of photographing Firecrests, put simply no.  I was also very pleased with the results from the new camera

Another scan with the thermal cameras of the field behind proved a success with a Brown hare hunkered down amongst the crops.

Walking on you come out into the open and have a view across yet another field of rape.

As we watched five Brown Hare came running out of the surrounding field and started to chase each other through the tramways of the rape field.  W

We were being extremely lucky with the weather, the day was forecast to be overcast but we were having plenty of sunshine.

We made our way back to the reserve and decided to cross the grass land and make our way to the hedges on the north side, these were facing south and it was here that we probably had the better chance of finding any butterflies.

The trees around the footpath though were showing that beautiful fresh green appearance.

The trees on the north side provided good shelter from the wind and the south facing aspect made it quite a sun trap and as hoped for the butterflies appeared, first a female Brimstone that did not stop, but next a male that was much more confiding.

The Brimstone was then joined by an immaculate Peacock.

We started to make our way back to the car park, the deep blue sky and white clouds always make this beautiful spot a big sky location and this is reinforced with black and white photography.

The delicate fresh green leaves of the beech trees in the Blagdon Plantation.

Heading along the sheltered track I almost stood on the sunning Speckled Wood.

Along the sheltered path there were Bee-flys searching the grass areas.

There are two species of Bee-fly to be seen commonly in the UK these are the Dark-edged and Dotted Bee-fly.  There are two other species Heath and Western Bee-fly but these are extremely localised.  The dark-edged is easily identified when seen at rest by the black border to the leading edge of its wing.  What we have here is the scarcer Dotted Bee-fly which is identified by the black dots on the wings.  These are difficult to see when in flight but show well when resting.

Back at the car park more wonderful views of this special place.

As we sat around eating lunch we heard a familiar song, the rattling song of a Whitethroat, walking just a little way down the track we found it singing from the top of a hawthorn bush, the first whitethroat of the year.

The Whitethroat is a medium-sized, long-tailed warbler of grassland, scrub and hedgerows. It is a summer visitor, arriving from Sub-Saharan Africa in April breeding in many areas, but avoiding urban and mountainous places. 

Male Whitethroats build nests out of twigs and roots and the females then decide which to take. 

Whitethroats leave our shores in early October and head as far as South Africa to overwinter.

It gave us a it of a run around and then disappeared into the centre of the hawthorn.  As we made our way back to the cars I noticed this Chiffchaff singing from the top of a lichen covered branch.  As I started to photograph it stopped singing and turned to watch me, the white background and the lichen completed the scene for me, one of my favourites today.

We then decided to stop off at Toyd Down, in the hope of some partridges.  The visit proved almost a waste of time, the only bird of note being a swallow over the horse paddocks.  We had a quick review and the next option was to stop off at Blashford, there has been a long staying female Greater Scaup on Ibsley Water which would make a nice year tick.

Not one of my favourite hides we parked and walked to the tern hide.  There was little about, Tufted Duck in front of the hide and Wigeon and one or two Goldeneye distant to the north end.  The Scaup has been frequenting the south west corner which isn't easy to view from the tern hide with the fixed windows and anti-glare.  I did manage to find the duck though, close to the shore.  It was a long way off, but stood out from the accompanying Tufted Duck, job done, but too far away for any photographs.

Ian had to leave but I decided to have a walk around the reserve, this took me to the Woodland Hide.  The hide was empty so I was able to get the good window that opened.  It was quiet to start but then a few Greenfinch started to arrive.

A very smart looking male.

A male Reed Bunting was picking up the scraps under the bird feeder.

A few Goldfinches.

The male Reed Bunting on one of the branches.

There were also a couple of Robins, Great Tits and Blue Tits coming and going to the feeder.  The last species to arrive were the Siskins, here a very nice male.

The hide was filling up so I decided to leave and make my way back to the car.  A really enjoyable day in a different part of the county for a change, the weather helped and it was good to catch up with some year ticks and also to see some butterflies at last.  The forecast for the coming week was good, arm weather, easterlies and a few showers about, who knows.