This month's birding started on the 2nd with a late afternoon tour of the Cranborne Chase Sixpenny Handley and Wyke Down. Getting Short-eared Owl, Red Kites and Raven on our list was nice and hearing Skylark singing gave a good indicator that Spring was on the way even if it was many wet and raining most days.
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| A late Short-eared Owl North Dorset © Nick Hull |
Next day we had a walk around the Lytchett patch recording area just to catch up on a few species that were missing Dartford Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Snipe and Little and Great Crested Grebe. The morning ended with rain which didn't really stop and ran through the next day too.
On the 5th though it was light rain Jackie and I met friends and had a short walk around Sugar Hill area of Wareham Forest just to try and see the Great Grey Shrike which I found sitting at the top of a pine but again the rain started coming down pretty heavily so we soon called it a day and headed home.
We were out again on the 6th this time meeting friends in the New Forest at Acres Down the sunny morning brought a few species out and we successfully saw Goshawk, and listened to two Woodlark singing plus Firecrest, Hawfinch and Green Woodpecker the latter which seems to have disappeared from our Lytchett patch.
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| Woodlark Acres Down New Forest © Nick Hull |
On the 8th whilst having lunch in the conservatory at home and glancing up sky watching just in case actually paid off for once as a Red Kite drifted over going west a nice garden and patch tick without going anywhere is always good.
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| Red Kite © Nick Hull |
Next day we had to pop into town and as we needed Peregrine we checked the Asda building as we passed on the way home and there he was sitting on the rail. After getting home I had a walk over Lytchett Fields the tide was wrong and there was a chill in the air but in the more sheltered spots I saw my first hoverfly of the year plus Peacock Butterfly and a 7-spot Ladybird.
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| Drone Hoverfly - Eristalis pertinax © Nick Hull |
Out around in the 10Km patch which is essentially Poole Harbour and Isle of Purbeck and a little of Wareham Forest on a dry morning of the 16th starting at Holme Bridge added a pair of Mandarin on the Frome and on the Gravel Pits we found a Barnacle Goose which was a little unexpected. Then moving on we had a immature type Marsh Harrier over Hartland Moor but little else. We decided to head back to Poole and went through the forest and had Redwing at Wild Woodbury and Yellowhammer near Bloxworth ending the morning at the Ham Common VP at Rockley, where we manage to catch up with one of the White-tailed Eagles sat on Wood Bar Looe Point in the Wareham Channel whilst listening to many Mediterranean Gull moving back and forth from the gull nesting islands. Back at home watching the feeding station we had a visit from the usual Siskin and Goldfinch and a Lesser Redpoll which was very nice edition to the garden list for the year.
Out to Middlebere and to Studland but the weather was against us so very little seen, but on the 20th I had a couple of hours out walk around the patch nothing to unusual bird wise accept two Wheatear were in the Approach Field which was nice though the Little Ringed Plover were nowhere to be seen. On the plus side on the way back had a male adder basking and my first Small Tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood of the year plus several Brimstone.
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| 1 of 2 Wheatear on approach Field © Nick Hull |
I took this photo of the adder with a long lens so not to disturb it from basking. Taking in the sun is essential so they can get into top condition after hibernation and ready for breeding, and by not disturbing them they will stay and use the basking site more or less every day but if constantly disturbed they will move and then no one get to see these stunning snakes.
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| Male Adder © Nick Hull |
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| Small Tortoiseshell © Nick Hull |
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| Speckled Wood Nick Hull |
Whilst at the view point a small spider was running about on the wood rail so I took a few shots of it and identified it at Arctose leopardus and as it turns out it's a new species for the patch.
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| Arctose leopardus © Nick Hull |
I managed to get of for a few hour on the 22nd to Swineham looking for reptiles and managed to find 10 Adder eight males and two females which was nice. Also went to Studland on the 24th in hope of seeing the Long-tailed Duck off Jerry's Point unfortunately when we arrived the area off Jerry's Point had Kite Surfers skimming around everywhere so no luck with the Long-tailed Duck. Now the rain came in and we popped into the Brand's Bay hide and had the usual section of waders and duck and geese even six Brent were still present with the Canada geese and a couple of Greylag on Greenlands fields.
On the 26th Jackie and I started our Osprey sitting as with last year and it was CJ7 first day back 022 having returned at 05:43hrs the day before. When we arrived she was eating a fish and spent a lot of time resting after her flight which isn't that surprising really. O22 came in with the odd piece of nesting material and CJ eventually landed on the nest and did some maintenance.
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| 022 on nest perch BoPH Webcam shots |
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| CJ7 on the nest BoPH Webcam shots |
Whilst your doing your stint watching over the nest site we usual record the other birds we hear and see which occupies your time when both birds are away from the nest. We managed to add a couple of Sand Martin and a very lucky fly over Hawfinch which was a big surprise to add to our 10Km list.
If you want to take a look and checkout the Dorset only breeding Osprey click on the following link to the Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey Webcam.
That bring me to the end of the March blog and April has started well as the Forster's Tern has returned and is back at Arne.
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