I met Ian on the sea wall at Hill Head, it was another beautiful morning and the sun was already up, but scattering golden light across the high tide. We walked towards the harbour and were distracted by the waders showing on the groynes. We edged our way to the end of the beach so as to get the best light. The Turnstone were all huddled on the groyne.
But there were also Sanderling.
There was nothing in the harbour and walking back we could see the scrapes were still quite flooded, the Black-headed Gulls were trying to find some dry land. We decided to move on and look for Black Redstart at Daedalus Airfield. As we pulled up we saw the Black Redstart on the roof of one of the disused buildings, but it flew off and proved very difficult to find again.
We walked around the streets and Ian picked out this Peregrine, it looks like a female, on the radio mast.
Our walking took us to the cafe where we took a break before returning to the area where we had seen the Black Redstart when we arrived. It wasn't immediate, but eventually it showed on the roof once again.
Then better views around the fenced off area.
It always seemed to stay distant and gave us a bit of a run around, so we decided to head on to our next destination.
It was a lovely morning with plenty of sunshine and out of the wind was quite warm, so we decided to do what we always do this time of year, and we are of course creatures of habit. It was off to Browndown South, looking for a special reptile.
Walking on to the area there were Greenfinch calling and singing from the gorse.
With the weather good and we had plenty of time to find what we had come for, we decided to look for the Dartford Warblers, which wasn't too difficult, three showing very well.
Happy with the Dartford Warblers, we headed across the gorse and over to the main path, from there we followed the path up the slope to an area that had been cleared last year, Ian had also been successful the day before. It was March, the sun was out, we were looking for Adders, and very quickly we found one.
It was curled up in the dead bracken leaves, a male.
It slipped away and we walked away, but I came back and the Adder was back in the same spot.
We left it an walked on, searching the sheltered spots and old gorse. We came down on to the main path and then found a couple of them laying out in the open.
so if you suffer from ophidiophobia, I wouldn't go any further, it was time for me to fill my boots with these two.
The beauty of the snake's markings show really well here.
The top Adder was a little more mobile and here you have the beginning and end of the snake.
Then the lower Adder started to move and headed towards the other.
Were they warming each other up?
We left the two Adders and then found another, which brought the total to four. We wanted to see if we could find one on the top path. One had been seen earlier, we had missed it. A couple of years ago we had seen one in the same spot and it let us get very close. We went to that spot and found the Adder. And, like last time allowed us to get very close.
It did though follow my movements.
Another wonderful Adder experience on Browndown South. The sun was becoming a little watery and losing its strength, so we decided to have lunch and then to try for another Black Redstart in Gosport.
A male Black Redstart had been reported from Haslar Marina and there was also the possibility of a Kingfisher on Trinity Pond close by. We parked the cars in a side street and walked towards the marina passing the pond where there was an unexpected red head Goosander.
The Black Redstart was reported from the "beach", which in fact was an area scattered with bricks and rocks across the exposed mud. As we walked along the path towards the slipway we flushed the Black Redstart from an old boat and it flew off towards the rocks. As we tried to get closer a very smart Vixen appeared on the shore and she was completely unfazed by our presence.
We made our way to the slipway and found the Black Redstart and it immediately flew off across the slipway and back to where we had come from. We followed and managed to get it on the beach.
It then moved around, following the same pattern, into the marina itself, out across the old boats and on to the rocks. We followed it and it gave us a bit of a run around once again until we were able to find it on the rocks along side the slipway.
A male Black Redstart is a very smart bird.
Then it flew to a small bush and perched on a branch at the top.
But it then flew across the slipway once again and over to the beach and of course we followed for the last shot.
We left the redstart and returned to Trinity Pond to search for the Kingfisher. We couldn't find the Kingfisher, but the Goosander was a lot closer.
In relatively dark water.
Close enough for a nice portrait.
Another great day in Spring like weather, will it last?
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