Peter Jones Wildlife blog

Another morning at Hurst. This time in quite a strong west wind. More birds moving along the coast than previously, but not much quality. Shag reached double figures, and Red-breasted Merganser totalled 9. A Diver was seen briefly, almost certainly one of the Black-throated from a couple of weeks ago. Heading back along the spit, a Black Redstart flew past heading back towards the buildings where they usually occur. Finally a big flock of Brents to sift through, but no surprises.

Should bring with it a Lapland Bunting or two! Originally shared by Met Office - Weather You might have seen headlines today talking about a #weatherbomb   heading towards the UK. This animation shows a developing area of #lowpressure off Greenland which will bring windy weather this week. Keep on eye on the latest severe weather warnings at http://bit.ly/1aRItgD What is a 'weather bomb'? A 'weather bomb' is not a perfect #meteorological term but is defined as an intense low pressure system with a central pressure that falls 24 millibars in a 24-hour period. A better description can be more directly linked to the meteorological #phenomena known as rapid or explosive #cyclogenesis. You can learn more at http://bit.ly/1G9jS7V

This morning at the very iconic Hurst castle. Weather was mild and the tide falling. The sea was very quiet for bird life. 6 Common Scoter, 2 Eider, and 2 Black-throated Diver were the highlights. The Divers called as they flew past giving a nice brief image of northern Scandinavia, and conveniently confirming them as Black-Throated beyond any doubt. (Divers in flight being tricky at the best of times). Overhead a Skylark called. Never had any real vismig going on at this location Elsewhere the scrub around the castle was quiet. The saltmarsh was full of waders and wildfowl. A Greenshank was the best I could manage amongst the many Dunlin, Curlew, Turnstone, Brents, teal and Wigeon. A pair of Stonechat completed the morning. #seawatch #Diver

A couple of good sightings including Pomarine Skua, and Little Gull, plus a rare glimpse of me hard at work on the bridge during this latest Newhaven - Dieppe survey for Marinelife http://www.marine-life.org.uk/newhaven-dieppe/2014/11/15

Local migrants.. 1 Meadow Pipit over the house was a cool surprise, I did record a small number overhead during a pretty big movement a couple of years ago, but otherwise they are fairly rare over the house.. and very common about 200 yards away on the paddocks! The other side of the village, I ventured into the Flexford Road fields on a dog walk, mainly for a look at what the habitat is like these days. Mainly 6 foot high corn crop at the moment, but a few Meadow Pipits, and Linnets, plus a reasonable sized tit flock, with at least 10, probably closer to 20 Chiff Chaffs. Didn't have binoculars, but saw them all well enough to be sure nothing else was lurking amongst them.

A couple of hours around Lymington this morning. I started off East of the River which is pretty underwatched, and I soon found out why as the area is popular for wildfowl shooting.  That aside, I saw a good stream of Meadow Pipits moving South, 1 Common Sandpiper, 30-40 Lapwing, and a few Brents, Wigeon, 2 Pintails, and a Peregrine before the rain started.  I headed on to Pennington, which was fairly quiet except for Black-Tailed Godwit and Snipe. Off shore a mixed flock of Waders included Bar-Tailed Godwit, and Grey Plover, plus a Common Tern. Black-Tailed Godwit..

Myotis Bat identification problems Visited a known New Forest Maternity roost of one of the UK Bats I have never seen before.. Bechstein's Bat.. The roost location itself is not publicised, rightly so, but I thought I would try my luck in the approximate area. Didn't take long to find a small group of 4 to 5 Myotis bats circling round the edge of Oak woodland just above head height. Now the problems start as Myotis Bats are pretty much impossible to identify by Bat detector alone, all having a long straight (Frequency modulated) echolocation call.  The only clue I did get was of a decent sized bat, so ruling out the tiny Whiskered, Brandts and Alcatoes'. The behaviour was not typical of Daubenten's that spend their evenings hovercraft style above water, so I'm left with either Natterer's or Bechstein's. A typical Natterer's is on the left of the attached pic, my bats on the right.. and they look good for Bechstein's with a slower echolocation, and mo...

Scillies 2014 Spent a few days on St.Agnes, Isles of Scilly 15-19th September 2014. Weather had been strong easterlies for a couple weeks which had me hoping for Scandinavian migrants, but despite large numbers of common species, especially wheatear, I found the bit of quality you hope for on the islands hard to come by. First two days were really hard going with just a Grasshopper Warbler to show for my efforts. Plenty of Wheatears, and a few Whinchats though so there was always hope of something rarer. Waders were providing some bonuses with 6 or 7 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint, Greenshank and 2 Ruff seen well. Finally towards the end of Wednesday the quality arrived.. I opened my tent to be greeted by a Wryneck sitting on a stone wall in front of me. Got great views, and a couple of distant shots before watching it forage at the foot of a wall in the middle of the campsite. he didn't stay long though, picked a very busy area to forage. This proved to be the high point, with a...

Great day on Lundy, performing the Wildlife Officer role for #Marinelife http://www.marine-life.org.uk/ilfracombe-or-bideford-lundy/2014/09/13wlo

Pretty good Marinelife survey with the bonus of a few hours birding in France. #marinelife http://www.marine-life.org.uk/portsmouth-le-havre/2014/08/06-07

More magic! Nice to see some migrants had arrived this morning, after a slow start around the horse paddocks, I eventually found a Whinchat, quickly followed by 2 Redstarts. Given this good start, I took the dog for a long walk along Hoe Lane and Packridge Lane. The small dell between the two lanes often has some migrants, and today there were at least 3 Spotted Flycatchers, plus a couple of Chiff Chaffs. Wheatears seem to be in short supply for me this year.. I've only seen one, none locally!

Magical morning.. Quick walk round horse paddocks before work. Some of the paddocks are looking quite overgrown, and attractive to Warblers.. Mainly Whitethroats, and Chiff-Chaffs, with a Female Blackcap the last couple of days. Was hoping that overnight rain would have brought a migrant or two down but no joy. (These fields can be pretty good for common migrants after overnight rain. I recall a fall of double figure Wheatear and a Whinchat a few Springs ago). Today started very quiet, and a heavy downpour didn't exactly help! until... a quite amazing run of sightings unfolded above my head: First a Hobby passed thru twice, the second time very nearly grabbing a Goldfinch. This was followed by a Sparrowhawk, and also another Bird of Prey which looked like a Peregrine, but was always going away. Two more Sparrowhawks appeared over the treeline, and another Falcon, this one definitely a Peregrine. A good day for Raptors as Kestrel and Buzzard was also in the area. I'd no sooner f...

Always enjoy the Newhaven Dieppe Marinelife Survey. On this occasion, I missed the only Cetacean sighting, but some good birds to make up for that. #marinelife   http://www.marine-life.org.uk/newhaven-dieppe/2014/08/16

Skyping the birdtable! Set up my tablet at the birdtable so I can watch the birds anywhere anywhen :) Robin and Jackdaw visited today within a few minutes of starting winter feeding. #garden  

The wet weather strategy! Lots of overnight rain, and continuing throughout a miserable Bank Holiday Monday. Checked out the Horse paddocks first thing, but not much about, just two Juvenile Stonechat. So I decided to head to Keyhaven, a location that has been kind to me in awful weather before with a Grey Phalarope found in torrential rain. Today started really well, with an Osprey over Fishtail, and struggling to head out across the Solent. Next bird was a Raven. Wasn't really expecting many airborne highlights in the bad weather, and these turned out to be the only good sightings in the sky! Everything else was at ground level trying to shelter. Plenty of Waders, including a good number of Black-tailed Godwit, and Dunlin. Best birds today were a Juvenile Little Stint, 20+ Grey Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, and a Whimbrel. Also, somewhat bizarrely, I saw my first Wheatear of 2014 today!

Two vastly differing weather forecasts for this weekend, so I spent the nice morning on the hillside looking for migrants overhead. A weird start with 1500 Woodpigeons streaming North in the first hour after dawn. All were on a line East of Romsey, and was quite a spectacular sight. The other notable highlight was two Yellow Wagtails. I don't see many in Hampshire, so it was good to see one perch in a tree top before being joined by another and continuing South. Not much else except for a few Swallows heading South. Tomorrow, I'll be out again, with a wet weather strategy! #vismig http://www.trektellen.nl/trektelling.asp?telpost=1416

Took a few photos of the Willow warbler in the garden yesterday.. None managed to show primary projection, but this one at least got the orange feet, long lemon supercillium, and some orange on lower mandible. #photo, #willowwarbler

Roles reversed Migration watch was pretty dire this morning with just 2 Swallows on the move. 4 Little Egrets and a Tufted Duck overhead were the only other birds of note. I'm noticing a total lack of Finches / Passerines moving past this hill, except bizarrely, for the 2 Crossbills on my initial recce which is slightly worrying for my future success here. Elsewhere, the local horse paddocks had quite a few Whitethroats, a Juvenile Stonechat, which was a real surprise. We had Stonechats here in the Spring, but they must have gone very quiet during the breeding season. I had presumed they had moved on. Also, Garden Warbler and Blackcap, plus a very sleek looking Hobby over the village. The Garden had a Willow Warbler drop in on Tuesday. #vismig   http://www.trektellen.nl/trektelling.asp?telpost=1416

Report from a very enjoyable survey across the Irish Sea. #seawatch   #marinelife   http://www.marine-life.org.uk/heysham-belfast/2014/08/1-2

Honey Buzzard bonus In two minds whether to get up when the alarm went off this morning.. Fortunately I managed to make the effort, and just as well I did. I don't see many Honey Buzzards in the UK, and today's sighting was a real surprise. A dark plumaged bird, that initially had me thinking what on earth it was, as luckily, it flew towards me. I was eliminating Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Red Kite, until the long wings, and long tail, plus small protruding head and thick barred underwings and belly suddenly clicked. The slow wing beats, and frequent glides on flat wings, all pointed to Honey Buzzard, and after scrambling up a small bank and ignoring the fact I had knealed on a thistle, I got a superb but brief scope view before it was lost behind trees.  Other birds included Hobby, flying away from me, and clinched as it turned, and gave away it's distinctive silhouette. Certainly finding this watchpoint a challenge with the sun a constant problem, and birds appearing from pr...

An hour of vis-mig at Romsey followed by 30 mins or so in the private horse paddocks near the house this morning. Vis-mig was pretty slow with a bright start, but very low cloud hampering the sightings later on. No wind whatsoever. In 90 minutes I did manage a Hobby South , and Little Egret North. Plus around 60 House Martins, mainly feeding but a handful drifted South. The Horse Paddocks picked up slightly with 2 Meadow Pipits, a Chiff-Chaff, and a couple of Whitethroats. #vismig   #birds

Arrived at new watchpoint just after Dawn. The usual Gulls commuting down the Test Valley, and a few Swifts over Fishlake. Sun was a bit of a pain this morning but this shouldn't be a problem in the Autumn mornings! Also, near the Sewage Works, the bat detector picked up Barbastelle, Noctule, Common Pipistrelle, and Soprano Pipistrelle amongst an annoying crescendo of insect chatter.  Elsewhere, the semi-rough horse paddocks near home were pretty good this morning with Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiff-Chaff, Whitethroat, half a dozen Linnets, and a Peregrine overhead. Amazing what a few weeds and out of control bushes can attract! #vismig   #bats   http://www.trektellen.nl/trektelling.asp?telpost=1416

A Marsh Tit in the garden today was a nice surprise. Only the 2nd in 8 years. The other in the depths of winter.

2 hours this morning at the Romsey STW watchpoint.. Species Count Mallard 2 Cormorant 21 Grey Heron 2 Buzzard 1 Lapwing 4 Green Sandpiper 1 Black-headed Gull 64 Lesser Black-backed Gull 4 Herring Gull 2 Stock Dove 2 Woodpigeon 13 Collared Dove 2 Swift 9 Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 Jackdaw 80 Raven 2 Swallow 2 Chiffchaff 1 Starling 473 Pied Wagtail (yarrellii) 2 Greenfinch 5 Goldfinch 2 Siskin 1 Mainly local birds on their daily commute, the Green Sandpiper a nice sighting, and Swifts nearing departure. A good number of Starlings for the time of year, emerged out of Romsey / Fishlake roost. #vismig

Vis Mig 2014! I've decided to rotate my vis mig efforts. Trying out a new location each year. Michelmersh / Brook has been excellent, so too has Badminston, but both are less than ideal this Autumn.. Brook has a very keen Gamekeeper that doesn't want me to put so much as a foot off the footpath, so the view is not as good as previous years. Badminston has been transformed into a flat desert by the Gravel workings by the look of it! So, I have decided either Stansore Point overlooking the Solent at Lepe, with a chance of Finches overhead, and the lagoon that held a Lesser Yellowlegs last winter. Popular with the public though; Or the view below of the River Test and Test Valley near Romsey. Tried here for 40 minutes after Keyhaven this morning, and the view is pretty good.. I could see all the Hirundines over Romsey / Fishlake Meadows, including up to 36 Swifts, a small flock of Mistle Thrushes, 2 Lapwing, and most unusually, 2 Crossbill overhead. The area is also good for Gulls...

Couple of hours first thing this morning spent at Pennington / Keyhaven. Nothing unexpected today, but good numbers of Waders: over 200 Dunlin, 50+ Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel and a Common Sandpiper. Other highlights were Mediterranean Gull, Sandwich Tern and Eider, plus a couple of Swifts. 50+ species in a couple of hours illustrating how good this area is, even on a quiet day in July. #Birds, #Keyhaven

Spent a couple of hours yesterday evening along the Test Way, just South of Romsey. Surprisingly, I had never ventured along this as stretch before. As with much of the Test Valley, you are limited to a narrow footpath, but here the views either side of the path are pretty good. Was hoping to find a suitable vantage point for "Vis mig", but nowhere along this route had any elevation, apart from a private hill (and the roof of Broadlands!). Best birds were 2 Raven, 2 juvenile Stonechat, and a Lesser Whitethroat. Plus a Reed Bunting, 2 Swift and a Swallow overhead. Meanwhile, a Siskin has been very vocal flying over the house for the last week.

Hopefully some good news about this amazingly good site in the Algarve http://birding-in-portugal.com/news/?p=1622

Spent late afternoon up until dusk in the North Downs between Hungerford, Marlborough and Andover. So much quality countryside here with a chance of rare breeders and scarce farmland species. Found some superb areas of habitat, but had to be content with Grey Partridge, Yellowhammer, Red Kite, Meadow Pipit and Whitethroat on this occasion. Quite a bit of Young Tawny owl activity as night descended. Had considered Some bat detector time, but had forgotten to bring batteries.. Also, the church steeples that I examined all had chicken wire blocking the entrance slits, so Horseshoe bats, which would be right on the edge of their range here I guess, would be unable to make use of them. I suppose if I find a church with unblocked slits, then the chances of it being occupied would be quite good.

Nice addition to the garden wildlife list. Seen regularly most mornings, but took a few attempts to confirm as Yellow Necked. Eventually caught him in a humane trap for a quick close up look. #Mammals, #trailcam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKBY3ZSeN6c

Night safari in North Hampshire was really enjoyable with a good selection of wildlife seen before dusk including Stone Curlew, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer,Fox, Fallow Deer, and Barn Owl. After nightfall, Noctule Bat, Common Pipistrelle, and Tawny Owl also seen.

A 3 day survey on the Poole Santander Ferry in rough seas.. Plenty of birds, but a lack of Mammal sightings sadly http://www.marine-life.org.uk/poole-santander/2014/04/26-28

Portugal Just back from a family holiday in the Algarve. Nice area, and great to see some Mediterranean species that I haven't seen for some years. Around the hotel were Sardinian Warbler, Serin, Spotless Starling, Azure-Winged Magpie, Hoopoe, Waxbill, Red-Rumped Swallow, and Fan Tailed Warbler. A short drive away, the Lagoon de Los Salgados was incredible: in just an hour I had seen a whole array of wetland birds including Audouin's Gull, Greater Flamingo, Purple Gallinule, Purple Heron, Glossy ibis, White Stork, Kentish Plover, Avocet and Black-winged Stilt. I also spent a late afternoon and evening in the mountains inland from Albufeira, and had a good view of Short Toed Eagle, Golden Eagle, plus Southern Grey Shrike and a few Nightingales. Some good Mammals here as darkness fell including European Free-tailed Bat, Kuhl's Pipistrelle, Serotine and Iberian Hare. Alas, I didn't stumble across anything more exotic such as Genet which I would have given my right arm to s...

Latest Marinelife survey on the Newhaven - Dieppe route. http://www.marine-life.org.uk/newhaven-dieppe/2014/03/15#.Uyv95EhCRsc.google_plusone_share

First bat of the year has just gone past the house while I was configuring the bat detector and PC.. A Noctule. #bats   https://soundcloud.com/pjnaturesounds/noctule-16mar2014?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=googleplus

16th February, a Marinelife day survey to the Channel Islands.. http://www.marine-life.org.uk/weymouth-jersey/2014/02/16#.Uw-LutczFrM.google_plusone_share

Checked out a few local areas on Sunday afternoon. Got a surprise at Dunbridge lake as it is being used to take water from the Test.. just a huge water pump, a single Great-crested Grebe, and not a lot of island left above water! the water level is a good 5-10 metres higher than last weekend. Should be nice and muddy when they let the level drop anyway.  As the main road out of Romsey was closed due to flooding, I checked out the flooded fields near Timsbury, but for once there was very little on the water. Plenty of Gulls and 40 Wigeon overhead though. A muddy field on Hoe Lane had over 30 Stock Doves and a similar number of Pied Wagtails. So nothing of real quality, but good to see where the birds are congregating at the moment.

Spent the morning at Hurst and Pennington Marshes. Hurst Seawatching was pretty slow with just a Common Scoter, Guillemot, Peregrine. Raven, and a small number of Mediterranean Gulls. Had a very distant White-winged gull which looked may have been an Iceland, but it spent most of the time flying away from me. Adult Winter too which would have been a good bird to confirm. The lagoon and saltmarsh was much better with the Black Brant showing well, and a Knot, plus several Pintails and Red-breasted Mergansers. Pennington Marshes at high tide was full of Wildfowl and Waders. Hundreds of Wigeon, Lapwings, and Dunlin, plus a distant Ruff (probably the furthest bird on view!). Also Golden and Grey Plover.  Finished the morning witnessing an almighty row at the car park between a family and a large group of dog walkers.. not pretty! #hurst   #seawatch  

A nice male Firecrest showing well in woodland this morning. I am lucky to have at least one territory within walking distance of home, but even with regular visits and dog walks to the area, they can often go missing. Also plenty of Redwings, plus 2 or 3 Mistle Thrushes, but very few Finches about at the moment.

Worth keeping an eye on....

I spent a couple of hours in the local area on Sunday.. Best finds were: 2 Stonechats still wintering on farmland near the house, Dunbridge Lake had a single Aythya Duck which after brief excitement and a jog back to the car for my scope, turned out to be a 1st Winter Tufted Duck, Palestine / Jack's Bush area of farmland on the edge of Salisbury Plain was pretty quiet compared to typical Winter afternoon/dusk visits: No Raptors or Owls, and no Corn Buntings seen today, but a very close Grey Partridge (which I almost trod on having mistaken it for a stone), and 2 Yellowhammers, plus a decent flock of Fieldfare heading to roost. Also 1 Fox and two Roe Deer.

Great story. Would love to see a wild Snowy Owl one day http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-very-lucky-snowy-owl-and-in-owl-in.html

The first Redpolls of the Winter to visit our garden, brightened up a miserable rainy day. 2 Males and 1 Female today on the feeders, plus 4 Goldfinches.