21st April - Testwood Lakes and the Lower Test Marshes, Hampshire

Today was going to be about seeing some of the locally rarer birds recently reported.  When I left home I wasn't sure where to go first, but in the end opted for the Testwood Lake reserve.  The day before there had been a Wood Sandpiper reported, they seem to be regular here on spring passage.  As I left home the bird was reported as being present.  I knew though that it wasn't going to be close up views as they usually stick to the far side of the pools on Meadow Lake.

When I arrived  i met a few others who confirmed it was still about but had skulked away into the reeds, it was definitely a long way from the hide.  When I reached the Sand Martin hide it was still out of sight, so I settled down to wait.  Fortunately it was an overcast morning as the sun shines straight into the hide first thing.  

There is a new Sand Martin bank on the reserve and it looked like the Sand Martins were making good use of it.

With the Wood Sandpiper still not showing I settled in to try and photograph the Sand Martin once again.

Another distraction was a Fox at the back of the lake, definitely n the prowl.

THere were two Common Terns that were using the tern raft and another that continued to fly around, trying to muscle in.

The first of probably many tern photographs this spring and summer.

There had been a pair of Redshank at the back of the pool the Wood Sandpiper was in and they would raise your hopes, but finally the Wood Sandpiper appeared.

As always distant and nothing like the views I had in Sri Lanka, but definitely a Wood Sandpiper.

The views were better through the scope, please believe me.

I then had a choice do I head off to Basingstoke where the Hoopoe had been re-found, or do I try for a Grasshopper Warbler.  I opted for the short drive to the spot where over the past week a Grasshopper has been singing and showing very well.

It didn't take long to locate it and I was able to settle down to enjoy some of the best views I have ever had of this secretive bird.

One of the most curious sounds the warblers bring to the spring chorus is that of the Grasshopper Warbler.  This is usually an incredibly shy and skulking bird that, if it's intentions are not to be seen will make it impossible to see.  However this bird seemed to be completely the opposite.

They normally creep through grasses and brambles, scurrying around on the ground like a little feathered mouse in the most unassuming way.

It is often only when they sing that their presence becomes obvious, although to hear it without prior warning, a bird, is probably the last thing you would expect to see.

This bird though was prepared to sing out in the open and sometimes the song was clear while other times difficult to pick up, but that could be age.

As the name suggests, the Grasshopper Warbler makes a chirrupy song, but not in short bursts like a cricket or grasshopper.  Instead it churns out the noise with great persistence, like the reeling of a fishing rod going on indefinitely.

It is such a strange song that it is both loud and quiet at the same time, often not changing in volume the closer you get to the bird.

Naturalist Gibert White wrote of it in 1768:

Nothing can be more amusing than the whisper of this little bird which seems to be close, but though a hundred yards distance; and when close at your ear, is scarce any louder than when a great way off.

After a spell in the bushes it came out onto a prominent branch and showed off the light and dark brown plumage that makes it so hard to see when skulking through the bushes and on the ground.

Having enjoyed being in the presence of this normally secretive little bird I finally decoded to leave, as I walked away it continued with it's song, still out in the open.

I then made the journey to Basingstoke and a search around a housing estate that turned into a wild Hoopoe chase.  THere was a report at lunchtime of the bird being seen, but that was probably from the sighting in the morning.  In the end the search was called off as there wasn't any sign of the bird.

Still no complaints today I had some of the best views ever of a Grasshopper Warbler, very happy.