Peter Jones Wildlife blog

* Cold snap brings some variety into the garden * Pale-bellied Brent Goose and Purple Sandpiper at Hurst Recent snow has brought with it some much needed variety into the garden. Not so many Thrushes this winter, although Redwing, Song Thrush, Fieldfare, and Mistle Thrush all appeared in singles along with several Blackbirds. Finches on the other hand have really brightened up the month: Bullfinch, Brambling, Siskin and Redpoll have all been regular around the garden along with the regular Goldfinches, Greenfinches and Chaffinches. Slightly further afield, I headed to Hurst Castle for the second time this year. A very high tide caught me by surprise, and the marsh was totally underwater by the time I began my return trek. the sea was rough, and highlights were a Guillemot and couple of (probable) Red-throated Divers. Along the shingle a Purple Sandpiper was a surprise, although they are recorded sporadically along this stretch of coast. Finally a single Pale-bellied Brent amongst the D...

* 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 h...

A good start to the year in terms of birds around the garden at the moment.. 30 species so far, the highlights being Lesser Redpoll, Redwing, Brambling, Bullfinch, Coal Tit and Tawny Owl. I also checked out a group of telecoms masts just West of Winchester which looked to have a superb view, and looked like a good area for Vis-Mig. However, as is often the case, places look totally different in person compared to on the OS map and from aerial photos! There was a pretty good view, but this was obscured by trees, and the drop from the summit was too gradual. Plus it was a pain to get to, and much of the area was marked "private".

·          A different look at Spring Spring 2012, and previous Springs thinking about it, have been fairly ordinary for me with very few finds of any real quality. The trouble is, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong compared with Autumn when the goodies are never too far away! Weather must be the major factor, so in 2013, I’m not even going to venture out unless conditions are classic. This should give me plenty of time to complete my BTO surveys etc. as SE winds and rain in the Spring in Hampshire can be as rare as the birds! ·          Vis mig (Coast versus Downs) Just can’t decide between the Test Valley or Calshot area for my vis-mig and bread and butter birding, or even further North on the higher hilltops. It’s a nice problem to have though, as I can think of many worse places to have to choose from. So 2013 I’m going to try both, in equal doses. Lepe and Calshot, plus Keyhaven will get a number of visi...

2012 was an extremely frustrating Birding year for me, until the end of September. In the final months of the year, a hastily planned trip to Scillies, and a Marinelife survey across the Bay of Biscay ensured that the year would be fondly remembered. Frustrations! My theory that “Spring is rubbish” held true in 2012 with a very poor return for many hours searching around Hampshire. A Spring trip to Shetland was derailed by a North wind, and the one really good find, a White Stork from the A1 near Newcastle turned out to be an escape. Add to this a probable Siberian Chiff chaff that showed well, but didn’t call, followed a couple of months later by a probable Siberian Chiff chaff that called twice but didn’t show beyond a glimpse and you begin to get the picture! It wasn’t all bad though, and finding a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker territory near home was a bonus, along with some super photo opportunities from the Shetland trip. Then the Olympics came to town .. Annual leave cancelled and n...

An exciting weekend to end the year in the Bay of Biscay: http://www.marine-life.org.uk/poole-santander/2012/11/17-19

Decided to run an experiment this Autumn and moved closer to the coast for my vis-mig sessions. I decided on Badminston mainly due to it's cracking panoramic view, and fairly obvious flightpath between Lepe and the gap between Fawley Power station and the refinery. In total, I spent 26 hours(!) this Autumn watching the migration passing over my head, and although it was fairly pleasant, it never really felt *that* good! Highlights were fairly modest: a Marsh Harrier, an Osprey, and that was about it really. However, vis-mig is all about numbers and it actually performed better, on average, than my other watchpoint overlooking the Test Valley. From Trektellen: 2010 Lower Brook: 3000 birds of 47 species in 26 hours (7000 Starlings excluded from the total as they were a local movement of birds heading to evening roost. Pretty spectacular nonetheless!) 2011 Lower Brook:  2775 birds of 35 species in 15 hours 2012 Badminston: 4453 birds of 63 species in 26 hours Badmi...

A couple of sessions of vis-mig over the weekend. Badminston is quite frustrating as it is obviously right beneath a migration flightpath.. Finches, Hirundines and Thrushes pass right over my head, and Corvids, Woodpigeons and other species all pass within recording range.. there just doesn't seem to be a great deal using the flightpath! Results from Friday 2nd November at the link below: http://www.trektellen.nl/trektelling.asp?telpost=1200 I may try an alternative survey spot North of the Fawley power station to see if more birds divert North around the refinery then across the New Forest. (Badminston catches the migration filtering between the refinery and the power station). The alternative spot would also have the advantage of being closer to Southampton Water, so birds moving along the coast would be picked up. I also ran my Sound recorder overnight on Thursday 1st November and picked up: 28 Redwings 5 Song Thrushes Plus Robin and Tawny Owl present. Finally the Kingfishe...

Quiet end to October, but a real highlight last Saturday when a Kingfisher dropped in to the Brook alongside the house. Always thought we had a slim possibility of adding Kingfisher, but I have waited over 4 years for one. Looks to have moved on after one brief glimpse, though it could still be around, further along the stream, perhaps.

Ran the tape overnight again, on 12th October. Weather was fairly clear skies, with a SW wind, but with a band of rain passing thru. Results were down on the previous weekend with only a handful of birds: Redwing: 6 Song Thrush: 1 Present: Tawny Owl, Robin The biggest highlight was my new method of analysis: I now produce a single mp3 (@  128kbps), then split the file using a free tool called mp3splt. Also, by loading the next sound file as I analyse each file reduces waiting time. I'm up to 5 hours of analysis per hour now!

I've noticed a few people are trying their hand at monitoring night migration lately. It seems to be popular in the US where software is available to pick out calls. See Oldbird.org . So, with nothing to lose, I wrapped my Zoom H2N in a tight plastic bag, put the weathershield on and left it in the front garden overnight! The first problem I encountered was the size of the wav file the following morning. Can't remember how big it was, but it took audacity over half an hour to open it! Fortunately, the Zoom has a built in tool to divide files, and so I chopped the file into 1 hour chunks. These took about 5 minutes to open in Wavesurfer, and once the spectogram was focussed and showing a healthy glow of background noise it was fairly easy to fast forward/scroll through each hour segment. Lots of unwanted noise at first, but it soon became clear that the vertical signals were fireworks, doors slamming, or twigs snapping. The huge blurred low frequency areas were cars, and yobs fa...

* Self-Found Melodious Warbler finally brings 2012 to life! * Other Migrants on Scillies include Yellow-Browed Warbler, Ring Ouzel and Pied Flycatcher * Quiet Scillonian crossings still bring some good sightings Took two weeks off work and headed to the Isles of Scilly for a few days. Unlike recent trips to Shetland, which I have had to book many months in advance, camping on the Scillies can be booked a day in advance, so I had no real excuses that the weather was all wrong! Having said that, a Low Pressure that I had intended to piggyback somehow doubled back on itself, and loitered in the Irish Sea for the duration of my stay. This caused North and North West winds throughout, and no doubt reduced the number of East Coast migrants continuing West. I stayed on St.Agnes, and decided pretty early on that the outlying Isle of Gugh, joined to St.Agnes by a sandbank and cut off at high tide, was the place for me. And so it proved to be a super venue with a Melodious Warbler found on the...

* Vis-mig switched to the coast, with limited success * Meadow Pipit added to House list * Nathusius’s Pipistrelle Survey.. Highlight was a Nathusius’s Pipistrelle * Badger watch. Vis Mig at Badminston continues at a reasonable pace. Numbers aren’t particularly high just yet, and I’m not sure if I am sitting in the optimum location. Slow moving Hirundines seem to pass tantalizingly North of me which is no problem, but finches and Pipits could be going undetected so a tweak of the viewing location might be in order. Best bird so far has been an Osprey, and judging by recent reports from the North end of Southampton Water, I suspect a decent number of Ospreys pass the area. Any change in my location needs to ensure the flyway past the power station is still in view. Closer to home, Meadow Pipit was added to the house list during a fairly massive movement across the region (e.g. a few hundred over Christchurch Harbour). This has been a very elusive species over the house, despite them...

Saturday morning was a very poor vis-mig session, with just a couple of hundred Woodpigeons on the move, and these were, worryingly, a long way West of my favoured position, in a very light West wind and thick cloud cover. The morning was at least brightened up by a few migrants on the ground including Spotted flycatcher, Blackcap, and a few Chiff-chaffs. This is turning into a pretty dismal year for finding birds.. I don't recall seeing a Whinchat so far! let alone some of the more scarcer species. Another species that seems to be in short supply locally is Yellow Wagtail. There seem to be a lot more records East of Southampton Water than West where I tend to focus. Also, sad to report a Polecat dead on the side of the A3057 near Ashfield. Such a rare and elusive Mammal, a pity I have only ever seen dead ones, and amazing to think this one has passed less than a mile from my house.. picture, slightly gory!

* Wheatear and Spotted Flycatcher brightens up local dog walks * Tree Pipit signals a new era for my "Vis Mig." Spending more time around the village taking our dog for a walk lately. He's old enough to go on longer walks now, and it gives me a chance to at least check out the habitat around the village. in the last month just a Wheatear and a family of Spotted Flycatchers to show for several miles of walks! Hoe Lane is starting to look a bit better now with the fields being harvested. Have also spent a couple of mornings at my closest area of coast, which is Lepe and Calshot. Again, nothing out of the ordinary but a ramping up of Terns and WEaders in the last week or two. I've also been checking out Badminston with a view to vis. mig. later in the Autumn. My walks in the area last year certainly showed the area to have potential with clouds of Woodpigeons, and on one occasion a passage of Crossbills. Finding a suitable vantage point, other than the chimneys at Fawley...

2012 has been a very ordinary Birdwatching year for me so far. Even a trip to Shetland in the Spring couldn't do anything to alter the fact that all my best birding seems to get done in the Autumn. So, good news, the Autumn starts now! Headed to Lepe before dawn very optimistically checking the reedbeds around the new hide for a Spotted Crake or two! These elusive birds turn up regularly at Farlington this time of year (in fact one is there as I type), but other similar locations don't have any previous form. Lepe looks good on paper, but the hide doesn't really overlook the suitable habitat, so birds could slip through unnoticed. Gave up on the hide after an hour. Hides are not really my thing! headed East to the other potentially good area of habitat: the lagoon. A Common Scoter offshore, and a Spotted Redshank calling in flight, which looked to have flown out of the lagoon were the best of the birds. Meanwhile over at Calshot, a large number of Common Terns were feeding ...

Sonogram and sound file from a recent Serotine recorded remotely over the house. Using Pettersson D230 and Zoom H2N

Is spring over-rated?! From the perspective of someone who likes to find my own birds, based in Hampshire, the last two springs have been fairly uneventful, compared to other times of the year. So I went onto Bubo and retrieved my major finds since moving to Hampshire.. Low and behold, with the exception of a (very memorable) Montagu's Harrier in Mid-April, (not listed), Spring never seems to produce the goods for me. The last week in Shetland was an extreme example of this, although I had my share of bad fortune with the weather on this occasion. So why do I find more birds in Autumn? Could it be that there are more birds to be found in Autumn after the breeding season? Could it be that in the Northern Hemisphere it is easy to migrate North in Spring, than it is to go South in Autumn, and therefore the Autumn Migrants get lost and held up much more? It is often said that Autumn Migration is more relaxed compared to the Spring rush to breeding territories, so the birds are easier t...

Spent a long weekend in the Shetlands, mainly thanks to some Flybe rewards points, and an understanding family! Weather prior to the trip had been excellent for migrants with a constant East wind for the best part of 2 weeks. Sadly it didn't last into my break, and I was faced with some pretty unpleasant North Winds for the duration of the stay. This had a really adverse affect on the migrants with single figures in total of Blackcaps, Spotted Flycatchers, Chiff-Chaffs, plus a Willow Warbler. A likely "Tristis" Chiff-Chaff called, but didn't hang around for a look at the plumage. Pretty ironic as I spent much of last winter grilling a likely Tristis that showed well but never called! I persevered on Unst but there was nothing doing. I was almost relieved to get back onto Shetland Mainland, but this too had very little in terms of excitement. I did see the long staying Subalpine Warbler and Long-Eared Owl at Quendale. However, what the trip lacked in rarity findin...

Have converted a metal money box into a weatherproof box for ym Bat detector, and sound recorder. In the past I have left it out in the countryside overnight!, but this weekend I just ran it from the back garden. Both nights were fairly successful with a similar tally.. 1 Noctule, a handful of Serotine passes, and a lot of Common Pipistrelle activity.