17th February - Black Point, Hayling Island, Hampshire

The Snow Bunting I had spent four hours searching and waiting for last Friday had once again been reported at Black Point on Hayling Island, probably as a result of a lot of half term disturbance at East Head.  I decided that despite the drive it was worth trying once again, so from Acres Down I drove along the M27 to Hayling.

I parked in the usual place close to the beach and then walked around Sandy Point.  On reaching the Lifeboat Station there was a group of birders gathered together having lunch,.  This didn't look good, but they told me the Snow Bunting had been about three quarters of an hour ago in the same spot I had spent time looking last Friday.  I walked up the causeway and as I approached some parked cars I found int on the side of the road.

Now the thing about Snow Buntings is that they are not a regular visitor to Hampshire, they are special looking birds and they have no fear of humans pointing cameras at them.  In fact you can crouch, sit or even lay down and they will come to you.  The result of this is that you take lots of photographs and that is exactly what I did.

An eye level shot as it walked to the top of the small dune and I was kneeling.

The trick is to get some scenery and not just the bird to create a photograph and not just a record.

It was constantly sieving through the sand and extracting seeds dropped from the various grasses and plants amongst the sand.

One of the cars started up and it flew along the beach out onto the shingle.

I tried for something a little more creative.  A close up portrait.

And hidden in the grass.

Some stretches and a scratch.

Getting down really low now to blur both the foreground and the background.

And then on the ridge with the sea in the background.

There are about sixty pairs of Snow Buntings that breed in Scotland around the Cairngorms.  They are an Arctic breeder and can be found around the coasts of the United Kingdom in autumn and winter.  One of the more bizarre places I have seen Snow Bunting was in the Azores one October.

There breeding plumage in spring is an all white head with black wings, in the winter they assume this browner version which acts as excellent camouflage amongst the shingle and sand.

I took the chance to take some video as it moved about the shingle, look out for the little trip!

Back to the stills, and it perched at the top of the shingle and I was able to position a dark background.

A ground level view with a blurred foreground and background once again.

I felt by now I had enough and I decided to walk around to the wader roost at the tip of Black Point.  The tide was falling and most of the waders were gone, but there were Ringed Plover and Sanderling.  These Ringed Plover on the sea weed.

The remaining flock of Sanderling and Ringed Plover then took off and flew out across the water.  I walked around the edge of the water and eventually found one Sanderling, but it turned out to be a special find.

It had somehow managed to extract the fleshy part of a cockle and was trying to swallow it.

Eventually managing to get it down, but you can still see the lump in the throat.

Here some video of the Sanderling wrestling with the shellfish.

And some more with it feeding on the shore.

Once again back to the stills and after the video there was some more feeding and some preening.

A good scratch.

And then some leg stretches.

Like the Snow Bunting the Sanderling seem to have no fear of man and will come close to you if you do not chase them.  This one kept coming and coming.

I love these little waders and just can't get enough of them.

I thought I was done with the Snow Bunting, but I got a call from a mate who wanted to see it, so I returned to the causeway and met up with him, and of course had to take some more shots.

Some more wing stretches, something Snow Bunting seem to do a lot of.

The shingle on the beach had been cleared and it was possible to drop down and follow the snow Bunting at eye level, once again allowing the blurred foreground and background.

Finally I decided I had enough, a scan of the water revealed a Great Northern Diver and a single Great Crested Grebe.  It had been a great day both here and in the New Forest, so I decided to make my way back to the car and walk off into a watery sunset.

17th February - Acres Down, New Forest, Hampshire

Having been unsuccessful at the weekend with the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker I had to return.  Today's forecast was good, sunshine a little cool but still with very little wind.  I made my way to Acres Down car park where there were already a lot of cars.  I walked around to the usual spot that looks up at the usual tree, where there was also a lot of usual faces.

It didn't take long this time for the star of the show to appear, a male flying in and settling on the dead branch.  At first out of view then came around the branch to show off.

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is the smallest of our native woodpeckers, about the size of a House Sparrow, something not appreciated by many.  They rely on standing dead wood for food and to ensure they have sufficient they have a very big territory, one Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers territory would support 500 Blue Tits.  As we tidy up our woodlands we are removing the very standing dead wood these woodpeckers rely on.  The New Forest though is something of a stronghold for the species and this tree sees the woodpeckers use it every year.  Not for food at this time but for drumming to secure that territory.

Outside of the breeding season they are very hard to see and oncer the territory is established they fall silent for the year, melting into the forest and going about their lives mostly unseen.

The drumming is faster and a little higher than that of the Great Spotted Woodpecker and the woodpecker finds the ideal spots on the dead branch.

These photographs are almost identical to those taken over the last few years, baring out the statement that this is the usual tree.

It is another of those pilgrimages that I hope to never miss, it is another sign that spring is on the way at last.

Here a short video.  halfway through the male drumming is joined by another male and they fly off, one returning to continue with he drumming, what we don't know is which one returned.

I joined up with a coupleof other birders and we walked up to Hart Hill to see if we could find more Crossbill.  As we approached the conifers I could hear them calling and very quickly picked a male out at the top of a small pine.

It was preening and looked as if it had just had a bath.

As we found on Saturday, despite the deforestation in the area the Crossbills do not seem to have been bothered, in fact it has probably made it easier to see them.

Walking back there wasn't any sign of the Tawny Owl in his Treetop House, so we walked up on to the down where we searched for Woodlark.  Today it didn't take long to find them one singing high above the cleared area.

It then dropped from the sky, parachuting and diving.

Settling on a nearby tree where it continued its song.

Also a small snatch of video and song.

We spent some time at the Raptor view point where we were able to get on a couple of distant Goshawks, two Ravens and a Buzzard.  But then some information came in that I just couldn't ignore today so I made my way back to the car and headed east.