30th September - Oxey and Normandy Marshes, Hampshire

Yet another glorious autumn day with clear blue skies and a few wispy clouds.  I took Helen down to Normandy Marsh to walk around the sea wall and into Lymington.  We had prepared for a chill off sea breeze, but there was no wind at all and the sun was very pleasantly warm.

We parked along Oxey Creek and then followed the creek out on to the marsh.  Several Swallows were passing through, the big number movements beginning to dry up now.  The tide was at its lowest and there were few birds on the Salterns Pond.  This Redshank showing well in the still water and sunshine.

As we turned the corner onto Normandy Lagoon a Chiffchaff showed well in the bramble and wild rose.  There had been several along the footpath amongst the bramble and gorse, but this one behaved well for the camera.

Also in good numbers along the path were Stonechat with several family groups amongst the gose and bramble.  This male showed well close to the Chiffchaff.

With it being low tide there were very few waders on the lagoon.  Out on Oxey Lake there was a group of Black-tailed Godwits and a flock of twenty plus Turnstone flew to the exposed sea weel.  Around the edge of the lagoon was a single immature Ringed Plover and this Dunlin.

In the south east corner were a small flock of Pintail, all still in eclipse plumage,  This is a male I think.

A Kingfisher flew past us along the ditch and another was seen in Lymington marina.  We walked up to the town centre where we had lunch, then walked back through the town to meet up with Normandy Lane which took us down through fields.  Speckled Wood and Red Admirals were on the Ivy flowers, while Small Whites flew past us.  In a garden on th elawn were these Shaggy Inkcap Fungi.

Helen remarked that this was where on a previous visit we had seen Roe Deer and I scanned the field and found them once again, lying down in the grass in the shade of the oak trees, the sun being quite warm in the light winds.

The grass was not that tall, about eight inches so these two bucks must be laying on their sides.  They also have been clever in finding the shadow of the trees to keep out of the sun.

Walking back around Oxey Lake a Little Egret was fishing in one of the pools created by the rising tide.

They are extremely successful in catching food, with every stab they always seem to come up with something however big or small.

There was also a few waders, Black-tailed Godwits in the deeper water and these Dunlin around the shallow water and sea weed.  Looking at this long billed individual it is clear how sometimes they can be misidentified as Curlew Sandpiper, but the darker body and remnants of dark feathers on the bell show this to be a Dunlin.

We followed the creek back to where we had parked the car.  Alongside the path were plenty of Blackthorn bushes covered with Sloe berries.  This year has been a bumper year for the berries with such good weather in the flowering season of the Blackthorn encouraging good pollination from insects.  The black-blue berries looking lovely against the lichen that covers the branches of the bush.

A stunning day and lovely walk to end the month of September.  What will October bring?

29th September - Blashford Lakes, Hampshire

1,000th Post!

Back in January 2012, I started a blog to showcase the wildlife around my village of Four Marks, called "A Year Around Four Marks".  But I soon realised that I wanted to go a little further a field and to capture my trips away from Four Marks.  So on the 30th January 2012 the blog  "Away From Four Marks" was created, and today I am publishing my 1,000th post.  The first post was about a trip to Somerset and RSPB Ham Wall.  Then in March 2012 I met through the Four Marks blog, my good friend Ian and over the years, the majority of my posts were with Ian, while the overseas trips with my wife Helen

Back in January 2012 I never imagined I would reach my 1,000 post of this blog, but here we are and hopefully there is something special to celebrate this milestone.  I also never thought I would celebrate 1,000 posts with a trip to Blashford Lakes, not one of my regular spots and not one that delivers in a way I would want to celebrate.  But last night I received some information that made we want to give it a go, so just after opening I was walking down the path towards the Ivy Lake South hide.  On the right is the Silt Pond, the shallow water providing a lovely reflection of the surrounding trees on what was a gorgeous autumn morning.

It was quiet, there was a distant Kingfisher that would hover over the water and several Great Crested Grebes with young that were constantly calling to be fed.  There was one grebe tha was closer to the hide and it would spend time in the dark water, but for some reason the images were all coming out blurred.  It did come closer though.

Two hours passed and very little had happened I was left to photograph the Kingfisher in the distant bushes.  I was dreading posting images such as this, but it was all I had.  Blashford was being Blashford.

But it really was a beautiful day and the water on the Ivy Lake was mill pond still.

Then some action, the Kingfisher appeared in the tree to the left of the hide, it came from nowhere and didn't even announce itself with a whistle.  The problem was being able to see it from the hide and I fou d myself leaning out through the window.

Still I finally had an acceptable photograph to post.

Time moved on another thirty minutes.  The Kingfisher appeared again in the distant bush, but s I tried to focus I noticed some movement in the water below, there had been some Gadwall, but this moved through the water differently to a duck, was it at last what I had come for?

It was indeed, an Otter swam out from under the trees and headed out across the lake.

I had seen a report yesterday and some photographs of three Otters, a mother and two cubs and I felt that they would be a fitting way to celebrate the 1,000th, but after two and a half hours waiting I was beginning to question the decision, still here was one and not showing too badly.

It swam across the lake, diving every so often and was  heading towards the nest rafts.

Then from nowhere two more appeared, slightly smaller heads and less defined muzzles these two had to be the cubs and they joined up with the mother.

Every so often they would attract the attention of the Black-headed Gulls, I am not sure if the gulls saw an opportunity to feed or they were mobbing a predator.

There was some play and rolling around in the water.

here they appear to be riding on the mother's back.

These two shots are probably the best on a hell of a lot of images taken.

They made there was across the water towards the far sine of the lake, during the dives I took in the scene with clouds now building up and reflecting in the still calm water.

They stayed on the far side, in the dark water.  It was possible to watch them catching fish and eating them with the binoculars but the camera just couldn't get the definition for acceptable close ups.  Here the cubs follow mum.  There were plenty of fish close to the hide and shore, so I suspect there were plenty on the far side too.

They stayed distant, going into the south end of the lake, every so often they would disappear, maybe hauling out on the bank to eat fish, I don't know.  These were the first English Otters I have seen, I have seen them on Mull and Skye and also in British Columbia in Canada, but never here in England, let alone Hampshire.  A wonderful sighting.

In between watching the Otters there were Migrant Hawker dragonflies providing some entertainment in front of the hide.

And a Grey Heron flew across the lake illuminated by the sun against the dark shadow of the surrounding trees.

Finally, some more landscape views of the lake and surrounding clouds.

Looking at the area where the Otters appeared from.

Well that is it, 1,000 posts celebrated with a great Otter experience.  Here's to the next 1,000!

27th September - Brownwich Cliffs and Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

It was great to be able to meet Ian this morning, he has been in Canada for the best part of September and it was a chance to catch up both with his news and my news.  We met at the sea wall at Hill Head where the weather had finally changed, it was overcast, very dull and with a fresh south easterly wind.  With the reserve not yet open, we decided to walk up to the cliffs at Brownwich, but we only made a few metres before I realised that there were two Glossy Ibis on the beach.  It was low tide and it need a very high ISO rating in the gloom.  They were the two adults that have been around for awhile now.

There were several Chiffchaff calling from the area of scrub by the chalets, and a Pied Wagtail on one of the roofs.  Walking up the cliff there was a lot of activity in the bushes but this was down to a few Robins and a lot of Chiffchaffs.

At the first viewing point you could look down at the waders on the beach and in the shallow water.  Plenty of Black-tailed Godwits and Oystercatcher amongst which was this partil leucistic Oystercatcher.

Along the shore were my first Brent Geese of the season, ten in total, but only eight in this view.

We made our way back to the reserve and once again into the Meon Shore hide.  There wasn't any sign of the Little Stints, but the Glossy Ibis were on the scrape and this time there were three, the juvenile joining the two adults that were on the beach earlier.

The juvenile bird was calling, a raspy sounding grunt call.

The adult joined in.

One of the adults seperated and wandered off to the east side of the scrape, the other two staying close to one of the islands.

More calling.

One of the immature Marsh Harriers appeared over the reeds on the east side of the reserve, but it attracted the attention of the crows that wouldn't leave it alone and it turned back and headed up the river.

The Little Stint appeared and came to the mud in front of the hide.  The light was poor and I had managed some great shots over the week, so decided today to try and concentrate on flight shots, but they didn't work out very well, so no photos of Little Stint in this post.

The Ibis had moved to the area on the right hand side of the hide and one had caught an Eel and was working to dispatch it.  It is quite amazing how many eels there are in this water, they must come from the canal that feeds the scrapes.

We decided to go and get our lunches and then walk up to the Spurgin hide.  With the overcast conditions the light wouldn't be so harsh.

Normally its quiet and takes awhile for things to happen from the Spurgin.  The immature female Sparrowhawk was seen chasing a crow, but not seen after.  Then a Marsh Harrier appeared coming close to the hide from up river.

Three birds fledged this year and this was an immature, the buff fringes to feathers on the wings giving this away.

The Marsh Harrier dropped into the reeds and we were treated to a couple of brief appearances from a Kingfisher.  Then all the gulls went up from the Frying Pan and appearing in the middle of them was an Osprey.

It spent time hovering over the area that was the river and the Frying Pan and attempted quite a few dives, without any success.

The dive would be fast to start but it appeared to pull up towards the end.

While circling and hovering the Osprey drew the attention of the crows.

One more dive and it didn't reappear so maybe, we can't be sure it caught something.  Our attention turned to two immature Marsh Harriers right in front of the hide.

Stunning views close to the hide.

The Marsh Harriers disappeared and in a quiet spell the Kingfisher appeared and stuck around long enough for a photo opportunity, sadly still at the back of the pond.

Then the Osprey appeared, coming from the direction of the Frying Pan, whether or not it caught anything still was unclear, but maybe it was resting after all the activity.  It wasn't alone and was shadowed by two Magpies, resembling fighter jets escorting an unwanted foreign aircraft.

Once again it had several fishing attempts around the Frying Pan, but never seemed certain with the dives, pulling up as it neared the water.  Eventually it started to move down th eriver towards the scrapes passing us in the hide.

It then started to dive over the river in front of the Suffern Hide, of course its closed!

Apparently it spent some time on a post in front of the hide, before moving on once again and fishing in the area of the open water and the harbour bridge.

Here with the legs down as it hovers you can see there are no rings on this bir, so its origin is not known.

It then flew moved away towards the sea and we last saw it as it dropped out of sight behind the trees.  We did pick it up again, but very distantly and it seemed to be heading out towards the sea and maybe the island.

We decided to walk back to the Meon Shore hide, the clouds had become very dark and were behind the hide which made the light appalling from the hide with it bright and in our eyes making photography almost impossible.  On the scrape were the two Little Stints and the three Glossy Ibis.  A surprise though was the sound of Sandwich Terns and four heading from the scrape and out towards the sea.

On leaving the reserve we checked the high tide roost on th espit, but there were only Turnstone, so with that we decided to call it a day.  Great to have Ian back, and a great days sightings to welcome him back.