2023 Patchwork challenge!

After a couple of enjoyable mornings at Lepe towards the end of the year which included Spoonbill, Red-breasted Merganser, Firecrest, Merlin, and Great Northern Diver, I decided to buy an annual car park ticket, and spend a bit more time there in 2023.

It is a location that I visited regularly a few years ago, and recall seeing Slavonian Grebe, Black Brant, Turtle Dove, Nightingale and bizarely, an escaped Turkey Vulture soaring overhead!

Others have had good success here with Caspian Tern, and  Rose Coloured Starling over the years.

This coincided nicely with Patchwork Challenge, a competition between birders to encourage low carbon, local birding, as opposed to travelling the country.

So, I have drawn up a 3km square including the coast between Beaulieu Estuary and the private stretch of SSSI beach between Lepe and Calshot, the Blackwater flooded fields, and some farmland and woodland inland of Lepe.

My first day of 2023 went well.. https://ebird.org/checklist/S125189275

Highlight being close views of Water Rail and Marsh Tit at the hide; Shag, GN Diver and Eider offshore flying along the Solent, 4 or 5 Firecrests scattered around the area, and Tawny Owls calling after dusk.   

I walked 11 miles, much of it checking out the woods, which I don't think will add much to my year. (The bird feeders by the Hide seem to get all the woodland species!), but maybe Woodcock and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker are an optimistic chance in the Spring.

I suspect my focus for the coming months will be around the country park in the mornings, with an eye to the Solent. The Beaulieu Estuary may also be worth checking although this is a time consuming walk!

Seeing 70 species in January is pretty good for me anywhere, let alone at a single location, so it will also be interesting to see if this patch can get 100 species in a day when the Spring migrants arrive, together with longer days.