9th June - Blashford Lakes, Hampshire

After the relative success of photographing the Swifts at Titchfield on the weekend I was keen to try with another aerial master, the Sand Martin.  This had me travelling to Blashford Lakes where the Goosander hide provides a good spot to watch and hopefully photograph the Sand Martin around the nesting colony in front of the hide.  It was also an opportunity to walk the new path that leads from the Tern Hide to the Goosander.  The gates and path have been there for quite sometime, but always closed.  Now it seems the Wildlife Trust has settled the differences with the other partners that own the lakes and we can now use this path.

As I got out of the car I could hear a Garden Warbler singing from the area of the viewing platform, but despite a good search I couldn't see it.  I decided to start from the Tern hide.  There were Black-headed Gulls about and plenty of Sand Martin low over the water, which was a good sign for later.  A Lapwing was on the shore to the right of the hide and had a chick, which meant it was on high alert.

It turned out the Lapwing was concerned about the presence of a couple of Jackdaws.  Looking at the size of the chick I don't think they were a threat, but the Lapwing was determined to chase them away.

Working its way around the edge of the shore was a Little Ringed Plover.  Not sure if they have been successful breeding this year.

It flew across the water to a small island where it hid away from the Egyptian Geese that were present.

The weather was being kind so I decided to walk around to the Goosander hide.  It was a much more pleasant walk than along the road and it was also quite quick.  I passed the singing Garden Warbler, but again it wasn't showing.

On my own in the hide I settled in to watch the Sand Martin that were all around the nest holes.  Once again it was going to take a lot of shots so I decided to start with the easy ones where they sat by the nest holes.

These were adults coming in with food, but it seemed like the young were well advanced and in many cases had fledged but were returning to the nest hole. 

here an adult comes in and the young bird screams to be fed.

But I wanted to try and get them in flight, so I watched and quickly realised that they were not as easy as the Swifts, much small and incredibly agile, you would follow them then they would just disappear.  I tried different methods, tracking them and also focusing on a spot and waiting.  It turned out following them was the best approach.

Here you can see the wear on the feathers, with the primaries and the secondaries showing a ragged edge.

Sand Martins have a fondness for riparian habitats and they will dig their own nest tunnels into the sand banks of cliffs and rivers.  Here the work has been done for them and it has encouraged quite a large colony.

This adult has a beak full of insects and it begs the question, how do they not drop what they have caught when they try and catch something else.  Here there is more than one insect in the bill, maybe, like the Puffin, they can hold what they have caught with their tongue.

The big difference from the other "martin" we have in the United Kingdom, the house Martin, is the lack of a white rump and brown breast band, which goes under the chin.  Once again the feather wear is evident on the wings and tail, this comes from going in and out of the nest tunnel

This was a lot harder than the Swifts

There were quite a few Fledged birds flying around with the adults and there was a lot of calling.  The fledglings had quite a bit of feather development to go through as can be see by the tail feathers here of this youngster.

The Fledglings still dependent on the adults for food, this youngster calling to the adult to be fed.

The juveniles like the defined white chin and band underneath.

Not a bad collection from the shots I had taken, not up to the standard of the Swifts at the weekend though.

It wasn't all Sand Martins though, this Roe Deer kid appearing and then dashing for cover in the nearby bushes.

A female, most probably the mother appearing a little later in the same area.

With all the Sand Martins about I had expected a predator, muuy money was on a Sparrowhawk, so didn't expect this Hobby.  It didn't make any effort to come close to the colony, but the Sand Martin disappeared after it appeared.

Showers were now moving across the area and there was some impressive clouds away to the west, again in black and white.

I took the chance to walk back to the Tern Hide while it was dry, the Sand Martin had gone so I was keen to see if they were still around.  The new path walks past the Clear pond with a view we would not have been able to see previously.

There is also a screen that overlooks a patch of waste ground that the Lapwing are being encouraged to use.  There was one chick in view.

Back in the tern Hide there were a few Sand Martin about and the Hobby showed again.  Out on the water was a group of fifteen Great Crested Grebes that all dived together.  The Little Ringed Plover was still about and in one of the showers a Common Tern passed close to the hide.

As the showers moved East the clouds, once again to the west, were looking impressive, this scene reminding me of distant snowy mountains in the north west of Canada!

So I managed to get some Sand Martin images and I think I was lucky as most of the birds have now fledged and they will not be hanging around the nest bank for much longer.  It was also interesting to walk the path that has been hidden for so long.

28th March - Blashford Lakes and Fishlake Meadows, Hampshire

There was a cold wind still blowing, but the morning was bright and sunny.  Ian and I had arranged to meet at Blashford Lakes, once again our thoughts were on migrant birds and over the last few days there had been a few here.  There was also the chance of some good birds of prey.

As we got ourselves ready there was a Chiffchaff above us singing away in the sunshine.  From the cars we set off to the Tern Hide.  As we settled in it was clear it wasn't going to be warm in the hide, the north westerly wind blowing through the windows.  I started by checking the scrubby area to the right of the hide.  I was looking for a Little Ringed Plover, a pair had been reported and for some reason they like this area.  It took a bit longer than I thought it would but eventually I found one at the tip of the mound.

This was my second Little Ringed Plover of the year, the first having been in Sri Lanka not really counting.

Scanning around Ibsley Water there was a single Great Crested Grebe, and several Tufted Duck.  Good numbers of gulls on the far side of the water and a group of Black-tailed Godwits that for some reason were spooked and had a little fly around.

In an effort to warm up we walked around the the Goosander Hide.  As we walked the path to the hide there were a lot of Chiffchaffs singing, a male Bullfinch was devouring the the pussy Willow and a single Willow Warbler singing in the same spot we had one last year.  The Bullfinch evaded us, but the Willow Warbler showed well.

If anything the Goosander hide was even colder, the wind bitingly cold.  As we walked in there was a single Sand Martin on the path and there was a large flock over the water in front of the hide.  Once again though they were incredibly difficult to photograph.

We spent some time scanning the distant tree line and there were Buzzards a Red Kite, a probably Goshawk and a possible White-tailed Eagle high above the trees.

We left the hide the birch trees looking special in the sunshine.

We were going to return to the car park, but we stopped for a singing Blackcap and then a Treecreeper.  The Treecreeper showing well around the angled branches over the water.

We then got news of a Kittiwake showing from the Lapwing Hide, so changed our plans and turned back to make our way to the hide.  A little way along the path a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew across in front of us and into a nearby tree.

It was hammering away at the trunk, some drumming but also chipping away the bark to look for food.

It then made its way along the bough to the end where it adopted the Woodpecker look around.

we walked around the path with Chiffchaff singing everywhere.  In the hide it was not as bad as the other two.  Out in front of us were good numbers of Black-headed Gulls, initial scans didn't find the Kittiwake, but eventually after persistence I found it quite close to the hide.  The question is had it been there all the time, I just don't know.  But here was a very nice adult Kittiwake on an inland water and a chance to get close to photograph.

Then it took off and was dip feeding over the water and then turned out closer to us.

For me another of the beautiful gulls, the clean grey plumage with the darker shade around the mantle.  The tips of the primaries black as if dipped in ink and the yellow bill.

It flew back and forth in front of the hide showing extremely well.

Finally it settled on the water a distance from the hide and we decided to move on.  These were the best views I have had of Kittiwake in the county.

We walked around the track again with Chiffchaff and Blackcap singing.  Crossing the road we walked alongside Dockens Water and came across at least three Treecreepers.  It doesn't get any easier photographing this little mouse like birds.

We had always planned for today to be a multi site day, so we were off to Fishlake Meadows, we had targets here too.  We still had sunshine and that would be essential.  From the car park at Fishlake we walked north along the canal path.  There was still a fresh wind blowing and that maybe was responsible for the quietness.  But every so often a Chiffchaff would sing.

A little further along the path there were the blasting song of the Cetti's Warbler and the diminutive Wren.  The Cetti's remained hidden, but the Wren did show.

Then a sign of hope that maybe we could find what we were hoping for, a Peacock butterfly on the path in front of us.

Rather than take the path across the reserve we carried on along the canal path and a shortly Ian found what we had hoped for.  At this time of year this reserve is a good site for the first Orange Tip butterfly.  Today was a little early but there was always the chance and we had got lucky.  We got even luckier as they usually don't stop at this time of year, but this one did, into the bramble where it settled, but we were able to photograph it.  Closed wings, showing how they can camouflage themselves in amongst the vegetation.

Then open winged showing off the lovely orange tips that give it the name.

After the Orange Tip we tried to walk down the centre path, but were beaten by the flooded path.  We weren't too concerned as we hardly ever see anything good from the screens.

Another reason for heading back was the skies away to the north west.  Dramatic clouds building.

As we walked south the clouds appeared to slip away without drenching us.

We stopped at one of the viewing platforms to scan the reeds and watch the storm  Overhead a Raven drifted over.

As we reached the turn to the car park, the storm clouds were making their way towards Southampton.  There were some interesting patterns in the cloud, bulges at the base of the cloud that are caused by the weight of water.

With storm clous all around us we decided to call it for the day,  The Kittiwake had been a bonus and it was good to catch up with Little Ringed Plover and Willow Warbler.  However the Orange Tip was probably the highlight.  The record is two days earlier than we have seen before, so all in all a good day