Peter Jones Wildlife blog

First trip of 2015 to Hurst. A few birds "missing" from the end of 2014. Notably Black Redstart, Raven, and Black Throated Diver.  Did see Two Peregrine, a couple of Hundred Dunlin, Red-Breasted Merganser, Pintail,  distant Gannet, and a 1st Winter Male Common Scoter on the sea, which had me confused at first. #Hurst #seawatch

#Hurst #Seawatch, Dunbridge lake, and the Leica #Duovid A couple of Sunday mornings spent in the field recently.. A few hours sea watching at Hurst ticked over, with a good selection of wildfowl including Eider, Common Scoter, Pintail, GoldenEye and Wigeon plus Red-throated Diver and Red-Breasted Merganser. Closer to home, an hour at Dunbridge lake was fairly uneventful with just 16 Wigeon the highlight. I'm getting used to a new pair of binoculars: traded in my old Leica trinovids for a used Leica Duovid (8+12x42). For anyone unfamiliar with this model, you twist both barrels to choose either 8x42 or 12x42.. 8x being good for close or cluttered habitat, 12x coming into it's own for more open habitat. Both magnifications are very sharp and clear, and although pretty heavy, the bins are well balanced. Hand holding at 12x is quite easy. So they look to be a good buy, and maybe surprisingly, they arent more popular.

Spent a couple of fairly quiet seawatching sessions at Hurst recently. Very few seabirds other than a trickle of Med Gulls. Keyhaven has been pretty quiet too with just a Merlin of note. Closer to home, at least 3 Stonechats have returned to local farmland west of North Baddesley. These are a very welcome sight as a mixture of habitat loss and bad winters had pretty much wiped them out in much of the surrounding area. #Hurst #Seawatch