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.

11th April - Brownwich Cliffs and Titchfield Haven Canal Path, Hampshire

A strange weather forecast had me initially thinking things could be good jus after dawn, but then the reality wasn't as expected.  I arrived at Hill Head with the wind quite fresh but coming from the south west and there wasn't any rain.  The tide was falling but the sea was quite rough and it was almost impossible to pick anything out sitting on the water.

The only movement through the air was a few Swallows coming in off the sea and several gulls off shore.  We stuck with a sea watch for about half an hour, then decided to walk up to Brownwich Cliffs to be able to look down on the water.

This was the right move as it didn't take long to find the scoter that have been present for the last few days.  I didn't see Common Scoter last year, but here was a nice male, although best viewed through the 'scope.

It wasn't alone and there was the bonus of a male Velvet Scoter as well, the head shape is slightly longer and of course there is the white flash in the wings.

We made our way back to the cars and moved them to Cliff Road.  After checking in we walked around to the harbour, a Sandwich Tern flew over, while there were mostly Gadwall off the harbour bridge.

Rather than go onto the reserve we were going to walk the canal path.  As we started at the bottom of the path there was a Whitethroat singing from the blackthorn.  It took awhile to locate it as it hid amongst the branches and blossom.

But, it didn't stay hidden for long coming up the branches to sing in the open.

Newly arrived male Whitethroats are a smart bird.

Leaving the Whitethroat we headed up the path, where the path opens up there was a male Roe Deer in the field on the west side.

There was plenty of bird song along the Canal Path with plenty of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps.  A Greenfinch was singing from a hawthorn bush.  

It took a while but we finally managed to get a Blackcap out in the open.

It is a lovely song at this time of year.

My favourite image.

A male Marsh Harrier drifted over the meadow.

We were on a warbler hunt and next was to get one of the Chiffchaffs.  There were plenty about but were singing high above us.

But then one dropped lower in a willow.

Another male Marsh Harrier appeared, this one a lot darker than the individual seen earlier.

We could hear Sedge Warbler singing in the reeds, but they never showed frustratingly.  There were at least a dozen singing Blackcap, while the numbers of Whitethroat were just a little less.  We came across another showy Whitethroat.

There were large numbers of hirundines above Posbrook Floods, mostly Sand Martin but there were also several Swallows and a few House Martins.  A search of the water and flooded vegetation did not find the elusive Garganey this year.

A Nuthatch was searching on the ground in front of us.

On the other side of the path Ian found a Cetti's Warbler either feeding or looking for a drink by the edge of the water.

There was a strip of corrugated tin on the ground by the fence and at first we thought we would have to lift it to see if the re was anything under it, but on top and in the sunshine was this Common Lizard.

We walked up to the car park at Bridge Street and found a bench to have lunch.  After hat we started the long walk back.  Out of the breeze the sun was warm and this was enough to bring out a few butterflies.  This a Green-veined White.

A little further along a singing Goldcrest.

The water levels in the canal were down, and this meant the water was quite still and clear producing some beautiful reflections.

The walk was then a little quiet and on reaching the bottom of the path we decided to try the Meon Shore hide, but there wasn't anything of the ordinary there, so we walked around to the east side and were treated to a lovely male Orange Tip off the boardwalk.

An open wing Orange Tip is always sought after, but here you get the best of both, the patterned green underwing and the orange tips.

With the recent sunshine there have been plenty of Comma butterflies about but I haven't been able to get a photograph of one.  That was corrected today as this one settled on a post.

We walked to the Knight's Bank hide where the male Kestrel was on the meadow, it has been seen catching bugs here.  As I raised the camera it decided to fly off, I caught it just as it took off.

The female Kestrel appeared but sat on a post out of view, behind the bramble.  The male did not return.  I waited but time was creeping up on me and I had to leave.

An interesting day with some common migrants along the canal path.