15th March - Toyd Down and Martin Down, Hampshire

After failing to find either Corn Bunting or Yellowhammer around Cheesefoot Head yesterday I decided to try the chalk downs to the south west of the county.  Ian and I agreed to meet at the Sillen Lane car park at Martin Down first, but as I drove through Damerham I noticed his van behind me and as we came into Tidpit I indicated that maybe we should start at Toyd Down, which is what we did.

Whilst the sun was out the wind was from the north east and very cold, it was a case of wrapping up warm as we set off along the bridleway past the farm houses and into the open fields.

Redwing were feeding in a horse field and very quickly a pair of Grey Partridge flew across the bridleway and dropped into the adjacent field.  Scanning the field we couldn't see them, but Ian then located them with his thermal camera, they were low down in amongst the grass next to a patch of brassica.

We were told of the best place to see the "English" Partridge by a farmer.  They are known as English due to the fact that they are the natural partridge here in the UK.  The other commoner Partridge, the Red-legged, was introduced for game from France and has rapidly taken over.  Fortunately in places the Grey is beginning to set up strongholds.

In the tilled fields they were huge flocks of birds, the majority were Starlings and Fieldfare and they would move from the hedges out into the fields in a cloud of birds.

Fieldfare, flying over to the adjacent trees.

I was pleased to be able to capture this Fieldfare as it took off.

Big sky looking north from the bridleway.

Corn Bunting were singing on the fence posts and top of the bushes but were always too far away for a good photograph.

We followed the track until we reached a right hand turn and then started a circular walk around the fields.  This male Stonechat was calling from the top of the hedge.

The "French" Red-legged Partridge ran across in front of us.

We flushed another pair of Grey Partridge from the side of the path and then watched as they dropped into a field.  Fortunately the field was fallow and had a path going though it so we decided to go and see if we could find the partridges.

There was no immediate sign of the partridges, but there was a couple of Brown Hare in the field.

We did find the partridges with the help of the thermal camera once again and we were lmost on top of them when they flew off once again.  They were relying on the camouflage and the fact that they could flatten themselves in amongst the brassica.

Walking on we stopped to watch a group of Roe Deer.  The clouds above and stretching out across the fields was very dramatic.

And once again leant itself to a black and white image.

The deer in the middle of the field.

More black and white scenery.

We followed the path alongside another tilled field.  There were quite a few birds feeding in the field including Chaffinches and Yellowhammers, one Yellowhammer was singing.  I checked what I thought was a stick in the field and to my surprise it turned out to be a male Wheatear.

For me there is no better sight at this time of year that a newly arrived male Wheatear, it is a signal of things to come.  We settled down to photograph the Wheatear as it fed around the filed, however there was a heat haze that made getting a clear shot that did the bird justice.  Fortunately all the other birds were spooked and this spooked the Wheatear and it flew from the field to the hedge behind us.

But then flew to a different area of the field and the sun went in and the heat haze was gone.  We crept closer and finally managed to get some good shots.

They spend the winter in central Africa and are one of the earliest migrants to arrive here in the UK.  They then make their way north to breeding grounds around moorland and open land here, but also onward towards Iceland and Greenland.

It then flew from the field to the hedge once again, but showing a little better.

Eventually it flew off and we continued the walk, heading back towards where we had parked the cars.

This Brown Hare was sitting amongst a field of brassica.

The original Easter Bunny.

From Toyd we drove the short distance to Martin Down and set off along the path towards the Blagdon Plantation and the Jubilee Way.  I heard the song of a Grey Partridge and it then flew across the path and away into the long grass and ant hills.  A little further and another sang out and after a short search we managed to flush it and this time I got the photograph.

Once again some wonderful big skies and clouds.

Once again the dramatic black and white image.

We walked alongside the plantation and despite searching found nothing.  Coming out alongside the fields at Whitey Top Farm there were Fieldfare feeding in the field, but they flew off and into the nearby trees.

We walked to where the Jubilee trail meets the Hardy Way with more wonderful views away to the north across Martin Down.

Again in black and white.

We walked around and then back down to the Bokerly Ditch, after lunch we then decided to walk to the east and then a circuit down towards Grims Ditch and back to the car park.  The only thing of interest in the whole walk was this Oil Beetle.

Oil beetles are conspicuous, charismatic insects which are often encountered when walking and enjoying the countryside. Their habit of seeking out bare ground in which to dig nest burrows means that they are frequently seen on footpaths. The best time of year to look for oil beetles is March to July.

Oil beetles have one of the most extraordinary life cycles of any British insect - they are nest parasites of solitary mining bees. Female oil beetles dig nest burrows in the ground, into which they lay hundreds of eggs. Once hatched, the active, louse-like, larvae climb up on to flowers and lay in wait for a suitable bee. Their hooked feet enable a firm hold on an unwitting bee collecting pollen for its own nest. Once in a bee’s nest the larva disembarks and eats the bee’s eggs and the store of pollen and nectar. The larva develops in the bee burrow until it emerges as an oil beetle ready to mate and start the whole cycle again. 

So the first migrant of the year today and some nice views on Grey Partridge.  Four more year ticks to the total.  There are signs of warmer conditions and southerly winds next week, so hopefully things will start to move

9th March - Martin Down and Blashford Lakes, Hampshire

Martin Down is not normally a location that we visit in the winter (I know it's technically spring, but its early March), but Ian had some luck while I was away with a Hen Harrier and several Short-eared Owl, so we were here to chance our luck and also pick up a few specialist year ticks.

On the way I had seen a Red-legged Partridge, I was hoping for the other partridge today.  Turning on to Sillens Lane I thought I was driving up a stream bed, water was pouring off the surrounding fields and found the tarmac as a suitable water course.  I don't recall ever seeing it like this here before.  The spring weather I had been enjoying since we came home was now gone, it was dull, overcast with the threat of rain.

Getting out of the car a Yellowhammer was singing in a bush close by.

\thermal cameras were essential today, much of what we were looking for and we walked down the main path and scanned the hill in front of us.  There was a heat source on the side of the hill, we were quite excited it was what we were hoping for.  This record shot gives some idea what we were looking at with a normal camera.

The heat source was in the centre of the photograph, but turned out to be a Brown Hare.

We reached Bokerly Ditch where there was a Corn Bunting singing, but little else.

We walked along the ditch, with little about.  A Raven flew over, but very little else.  The grass was very short and it seemed strange to be here with no flowers.  Another Corn Bunting showed a little better in the gloom.

Skylark were singing above us and there were also several in the small bushes and on the anthills.

Just before the Jubilee footpath that leads alongside a copse we searched an area of grassland.  This was where Ian had the owls when he was last here.  We very quickly found another heat source, but again this turned out to be a Brown Hare.  We walked around the whole area without any luck at all. 

We then walked the footpath where the only thing we saw of interest was a Roe Deer.  Another heat source in the copse had us guessing once again, but it turned out to be a female pheasant, probably on the nest.  There was no sign of any Brown Hares.

Coming off the Jubilee Path there was another Corn Bunting in the middle of a bush.

We made our way to the old ranges, flushing two Grey Partridge on the way.  As we walked past the largest range another pair of Grey Partridge flushed from the scrub, but did not fly too far.  We walked into the area where they seemed to have landed.  There was no sign of the partridge and we turned our attention to a Skylark, then from next to us the pair flew up once again.  We followed there flight and made our way there and once again they flushed.

Completely frustrated, we decided to check the ditch once again, but with the same results.  The gloom had not lifted all morning so we decided to cut our losses and head back to the cars for lunch.  As we walked back it started to rain and almost at the same time a Red Kite took off from alongside the path and soared around above us.

Back in the car park, another Corn Bunting singing.

Ian still needed Siskin for the year so we decided to visit Blashford Lakes, surely Siskin was guaranteed in the Woodland Hide.  For once the hide was empty and we sat by the window.  It was unusually quiet with very few birds about, but slowly they started to appear.  A long-tailed Tit.

A Coal Tit

And then what Ian was hoping for, a male Siskin.

From the Ivy Lake South there was very little close to the hide, all the wildfowl were on the far side of the lake aside from this single drake Tufted Duck.

Then for some reason all the Wigeon flew across the lake.

We tried the north hide, but there was nothing and then walked to the Tern Hide on the other side.  Two Red Kite were above us and on the Road Kill table were two Raven and a very dead Roe Deer.  That was the end of what was a rather disappointing day.

13th May - Cley Marshes NWT, Norfolk

After the rain, wind and cold of Friday, Saturday morning was a little calmer, but still overcast and unseasonably cool.  Breakfast was had once again watching the antics on the lawn.  What was completely unexpected was a Spoonbill fly over, where it was going was probably clear, but where had it come from, the Wash?  We were treated to to species of partridge on the lawn, first was a brief appearance of a pair of Red-legged Partridges.

Red-legged Partridges are also known as the 'French partridge', the Red-Legged Partridge was introduced to the UK from western Europe during the 1700s as a new gamebird.  The "English partridge", the Grey Partridge is the resident bird, once the most popular sporting bird in Britain, very few estates now shoot greys, concentrating instead on Red-legs, which are much easier to rear in captivity.

Probably the same pair that appeared on Thursday then turned up, I dismissed them at first thinking they were the Red-legs, so I was pleased to get some good views in good light.

We had heard one or maybe two calling just after dawn outside the room, a characteristic rasping call sounding like "kerr-rick" advertising their presence.

Partridges form pairs early in the year, and these birds will stay together until the autumn.  They are highly social birds, and after breeding it’s quite normal for two or even three families to join together to form sizeable coveys of 20 or more birds.

Partridges lay the biggest clutches of any birds, with 14 to 15 eggs usual, and even bigger clutches often recorded.  Only the female incubates the eggs, but the male is invariably close by.  Both sexes are attentive parents, and where predators aren’t a problem it’s not unusual for all the chicks hatched to be reared.

Cock grey partridges can be remarkably brave (or foolhardy) in defence of their young, and have been recorded flying at stoats, weasels and even humans.  The young can feed as soon as they leave the nest and are capable of their first proper flight at 15 days.  Young chicks require a high proportion of insects in their diet: it is the lack of insects in the modern countryside that has led to the birds’ widespread decline.

The Grey Partridge has an orange face and a distinctive black horseshoe-shaped patch on its belly. It is grey-brown above with a grey chest and orange-brown stripes down the flanks.

Breakfast finished we set off towards the east and the famous Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve at Cley, it has been a while since i have been here and if I am honest it is not aplace that I have ever seen a large number or quality of birds.  

The reserve was purchased in 1926 to be held 'in perpetuity as a bird breeding sanctuary'. It provided a blue print for nature conservation which has now been replicated across the UK. In 2012 an appeal helped purchase a further 57 hectares linking the two NWT reserves at Cley and Salthouse together, creating a single coastal reserve of more than 300 hectares.

When I first started coming to Cley there was only a small car park and i would usually park in the beach car park.  Today there is an excellent visitor centre with a very nice café.  We parked, paid our dues and set off anticlockwise around the marsh.

Reed and Sedge Warblers sang from the reed bed, staying well down.  Today wasn't so windy as Friday but it was still cool and overcast and there was hardly any insect life to search for.

We took the board walk to the central hides, the board walk was flanked by the reeds and Swifts skimmed across the top of the reeds and our heads.  From within the reeds a male Reed Bunting was delivering its three note territorial song.

There was very little on the pools in front of the hide, the only waders being Avocet pairs and a few Redshank.  Later I was annoyed to hear that a pair of Temminck's Stints were reported.

On the left hand side of the hide we could hear the calls of an Avocet and looking out we could see that a herd of cows were walking along the edge of the pool and that one cow had decided to cross the pool, this was bringing the cow into close contact with the Avocet's nest and the Avocet was frantically trying to draw the cow away with a distressed display in the hope the cow would go after the Avocet.

The cow did not appear to be in a hurry, but eventually it made its way away from the nest and out into the open water of the pool.  Eventually the Avocet calmed down and made it's way back to the nest.

And settled back down on the nest which we had to presume had eggs, but we couldn't see them.

Drama over we left the hide and made our way back to the circular path, this took us to the beach road which we crossed and then climbed up on to the sea wall.  Here we met three birders who had seen a Short-eared Owl come up from the marsh and head towards one of the channels.  We waited and scanned, but saw nothing, then as we started to walk off they picked it up again and we watched probably the most distant Shortie I have ever seen.  The hope was that we would pick it up as we walked around the reserve, but of course we didn't

From the beach road you turn n to the beach of pebbles.  A lot of this area has been roped off to allow safe places for the Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher and Little Terns to nest.  Pebbles are always a hard slog to walk, but fortunately there were some places of grass.  

A view across the marsh shows the dullness of the day, off in the distance is the famous Cley Windmill.

A pair of Stonechats were calling from the grassy area.  Here the female.

A Wheatear flew up from the shingle and onto one of the fence posts.  The last couple of years have seen me struggle with spring Wheatear so it was nice to get some good views here.

As always it would keep itself always about the same distance away from us, dropping from the posts and flying low to another.

My favourite from the small collection.

There is a set of screens that look south over the marsh and an open pool.  Once again little about, Swift and Swallows hawked low over the water and there was a group of Black-tailed Godwits sheltering alongside an island.

An Oystercatcher standing alongside a clump of white sea campion.

A view from the screens looking towards Salthouse Marsh

We were back on the shingle and pebbles and there was also more sectioned off areas for nesting birds.  An Avocet was alarmed by our presence and we were not sure why.

Clearly we were seen as a threat but it wasn't clear why, then as we walked away I noticed four olive green speckled eggs in a scrape amongst the shingle.  Satisfied that we were not the treat she thought we were she moved back and checked the eggs before settling down on them.

Strangely though as she settled down she seemed to leave two of the eggs on the outside.

The nest itself was within the roped off area, but very close to the fence, it was also unusual to see an Avocet nest in such an open location, lets hope it is successful.

A path divides the marsh with Arnold's Marsh to the east, we walked across pausing to scan the pools.  Swifts, Sand Martin and Swallows flew back and forth low over the reeds.

As soon as Helen asked me if they get Bearded Tits here I heard one call, eventually we managed a brief glimpse as a pair flew across the top of the reeds and then drop down out of sight.

So it was back to the visitor centre and some lunch.  Later that afternoon back at Magazine Wood whilst it was still overcast there were several Swallows hawking around the trees and across the lawn.  I managed to catch one, its that time of year.

And so the long weekend was over, pleasing to get Common Crane and Bittern, and the Hobbies were superb, just lovely though to get away.