Test Valley: Winter Farmland

* Birds of Prey in abundance
* Dunbridge lake continues to improve.. slowly!

Sunday brought an end to the low pressure and rain in Southern England, replacing this with sunshine and a cold North wind.
I headed North to the Test Valley farmland, and had a pretty good afternoon:

Hoe Lane: A disturbance put a large number of Crows and Woodpigeons up. I pulled over and scanned, to see the back end of something big in the distance. Looked like a Goshawk, but I wasn't able to nail this one. On the opposite side of the road was a Peregrine and a Buzzard as a small consolation!

Dunbridge Lake: Haven't been here for a while and was surprised to see a Great Crestred Grebe and a Female Goldeneye on the lake.. both firsts for me here. Goldeneye is a bird I don't recall seeing too often along the Test Valley.

Brook Sewage Works: The sewage beds continue to be quiet this winter but a Goldcrest and Chiff-Chaff were present.

Nether Wallop Sewage Works: The most birds I've ever seen here with a flock of 40 Pied Wagtails, and a single Meadow Pipit.

Jack's Bush: Ended the day at this prime farmland habitat. Merlin, Golden Plover, 180 Lapwing, 6 Corn Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer and 11 Grey Partridges here, plus a Barn Owl after dusk.

3 seperate Red Kites throughout the afternoon is also quite notable.

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