9th May - Acres Down, New Forest and Magdalen Hill, Hampshire

It was possibly a little early, but with the superb weather we were finally having I decided to try some raptor viewing at Acres Down.  It was a beautiful morning, no clouds and as I pulled into the car park at Acres Down the air was full of bird song.  The most distinctive though was a Firecrest on the other side of the track.  It didn't take long to find this beautiful little bird.

Before walking up on to the down I made my way down the main track to check the "usual tree".  The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was present last Thursday when I was here and was even drumming, would it show this morning?

The main path to the bend before the tree.

Looking left while looking at the tree where there wasn't a Lesser Spot.

And the path that leads away past the Tawny Owl tree.

I made my way back to the car, picked up my scope and lunch and headed up the hill to the Down.  The view on reaching the ridge was superb.

I made my way to the view point, hearing Cuckoo and Woodlark across the Down.  I settled in to watch, the sky was a little too clear to start and i was hoping for some cloud to bubble up through the morning.  I was joined by two other birders and as I scanned the horizon, Rob Clemons, called out Bee-eater, and as I pulled quickly away from the scope to hear the unmistakeable liquid call of a Bee-eater overhead.  While I haven't seen many in the UK, I have seen and heard many in Spain, Portugal and France.  It is similar to the latin name phonetically, like a "prubbt".  I picked two birds up flying with a slight undulation, not as severe as a woodpecker.  As they passed by the wings were pointed and distinct, the appearance with a long bill in front.  It wasn't possible to see complete colour, but the shape and call was clearly that of two Bee-eaters.

They came in from the south west, and headed overhead and away in a direction, north east.

The rest of the morning was uneventful, two Buzzards soared over the distant trees, Redstart and Willow Warblers sang from the trees below me and there were at least two Cuckoos calling.

This Tree Pipit was displaying and settled in a gorse.

Cloud patterns in the sky.

At midday I decided to call it a day and walked back to the car park.  This male Stonechat showed very well.

I had lunch in the Acres Down car park, then decided to drop into Magdalen Hill on the way home, I needed an injection of photography and I was hoping there would be some butterflies about.  I parked opposite the cemetery gates and then walked up the hill.  At the top I opted to walk through the fields, then head west across the hill.  It looked amazing with a carpet of buttercup and cowslip.  Looking east.

Then looking west the direction I was walking.

There were plenty of Brimstone about, males that hadn't bred looking for receptive females, here two males chasing one female.

Crossing the stile I was in a shaded area, but with dappled sunshine.  A female Orange Tip flew through followed by a male, the male decided to leave the female and settled on some white flowers in the dappled light area.  This provided me with some wonderful backgrounds as it nectared.

I walked out onto the slopes and almost immediately disturbed a Mother Shipton Moth.

The moth is named after a sixteenth century woman soothsayer, the patterns on the moth's upper wing said to resemble her face.

I walked along at the bottom of the slope and immediately came across some butterflies, two firsts of the year, A male Brown Argus.

And a Grizzled Skipped.

A Common Blue and this Brown Argus had a set too, the Common Blue did not stop, but the Brown Argus did.

Another skipper, this time a Dingy Skipper.

I walked the length of the slope to another stile, on the way I had a brief view of a Green Hairstreak and over the stile another brief view of my first Small Blue of the year.  Walking back this Whitethroat showed well as it sang in the bushes.

There was also a Lesser Whitethroat singing, but as usual it didn't show well enough for a photograph.

There were plenty of Brown Argus about, as they fly they appear light due to the light underwing which is similar to the Blue butterflies, of which of course the Brown Argus is a member of the Blue family.  Here one settled.

A day of two halves, the excitement of the Bee-eaters this morning, and then the disappointment of the rest of the watch.  The afternoon saw some special butterflies and four new ones for the year.