11th January - Fishlake Meadows, Hampshire

After a brief visit to the dentist in Winchester I decided on a visit to Fishlake Meadows, by all accounts there were good views of Water Rail to be had, and I wanted to see if there were nay Hawfinches in the park area at Mercer Way.

Well there was no sign of Hawfinch at Mercer Way and not even any thrushes that have always been there when I have visited previously.  It was left to Collared Dove, House Sparrow, and the Starlings to provide the bird interest.

I walked back and then stopped at the view point.  The water levels were high and there were not that many duck visible on the water.

There was a flock of Long-tailed Tits in the trees around the area.

Teal were flying around the area.

Tufted Duck and Pochard were also flying around, however there was not any sign of the Pochard in this group of Tufted Duck.

I left the view point and walked back to the canal path, as I passed under the road bridge I saw a flash of blue fly away from me.  I saw it settle in a tree a little way along the canal, making my way towards the tree it stayed and I was able to get quite close.

Yet another female.

It then flew a little further along the canal and I followed it.

The shallow water was frozen and every so often you could hear the ice creaking, probably due to the water slowly dropping.  The ice also provided a lovely background to the reed mace.

 

It was a cold day, but beautiful in the winter sunshine.

I reached the cross footpath as you can see the path was flooded, and it was far too deep for me to wade through.

I went back to the canal path and continued along it, something I have not done before.  A little way along I could hear Siskin in the trees, but finding them was not easy.  This is a female high in the trees.

The path opens up and on the overhead wire was a Kestrel, bizarrely, the first of the year, I have seen Peregrine, and Marsh Harrier ahead of Kestrel. 

It then flew to the post amongst the industrial wires.

Then it kept a close eye on me before flying off.

There were three Roe Deer in the field close to the road.

While this Raven flew over calling and rolling.

I turned around and walked back along the path, another view of the flooded meadows.

I had been hearing Water Rail calling all along the path, but did not manage any view of them, they seemed.  The squeals seemed to come when they came across another Water Rail.  I decided to wait at one of the view points.  A Marsh Harrier was hunting over the reed beds, but too far away for any photographs.  I heard a squeal and a Water Rail skipped across a gap in the reeds, too fast for me.  I waited and there was another squeal so this time I was ready and I caught the Water Rail as it swam or ran across the gap.

They don't call it a view point for nothing.

A male Stonechat was around the view point moving from the fallen trees, reeds and reed mace.

Like the Water Rail, Cetti's Warbler could be heard and briefly seen as they disappeared into the scrub or reeds.  This one though finally showed very well.  They are reliable here a little later in the year, around April so it was nice to get some good views today.

Walking back the Kingfisher showed again high in the branches above the canal.  The sun was low now and was catching the seed heads of the reed mace, producing an artistic scene.

It was a lovely day to be outside, and in the afternoon had the chance to catch up with friends and have a laugh.  It was also nice to get Water Rail, which can be a difficult bird to get early in the year.