Peter Jones Wildlife blog

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.

Finished the year at Skidmore just before dusk: 1 Peregrine 1 Kestrel 1 Water Rail Plenty of Starlings in a pre-roost plus a few Redwings and a Buzzard. #dogwalk, #Skidmore

Dark-Bellied Brent Geese at Calshot. (Eos 600d, 70-300L) #Calshot, #video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvCtrGxSkNo&feature=share

An afternoon dog walk around Fishlake Meadows, on the North edge of Romsey. Plenty of wildfowl including Pintail, Pochard, and Teal. Plus a single Snipe. As darkness fell, a stakeout of the flooded path produced good views of a Water Rail. At least 6 singing Cetti's Warblers was a decent count. #Fishlake, #dogwalk

Quite a fruitful dog walk along Hoe Lane on Christmas Day: A very vocal Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was the highlight even though I couldn't pick it out. Also a Peregrine showing well, 1 Meadow Pipit and a few hundred Redwings #Toothill, #dogwalk

#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.

A link to my now archived birding blog

Originally shared by Peter Jones

Turnstones are pretty common and very tame all around the Hurst / Keyhaven area. This bird was feeding on the sea wall, so I didn't even have to lie down to get level with it. #photo #Keyhaven

Hello, We have now moved to: https://plus.google.com/communities/104943347078468838032 Best Wishes, Peter

My last Wheatear of the Autumn. Possibly of the Greenland race. #video   Originally shared by Peter Jones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxRaYhfJXEA&feature=autoshare

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

A week off from work in the middle of September, and I was in the mood to visit Islands in search of Migrants! First up was a Marinelife Survey to Lundy. Great trip in good company, the sightings can be seen at the following web page:  http://www.marine-life.org.uk/ilfracombe-or-bideford-lundy/2013/09/14(1) The Island itself really impressed me. Very remote, but with camping facilities, and a smattering of migrants including Whinchat, Willow Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, and White Wagtail. didn't explore the whole island, and some distant areas of trees looked to have potential. Certainly enough to keep me busy on an overnight stay in the future. I left the Marinelife survey and Ilfracombe, heading West. I originally planned to take my tent to the Scillies, but the heavy gales forecast for Sunday and Monday put paid to these plans, and looking back at bird sightings from the Scillies, I had a close escape. It looks to have been a struggle!  Instead, I decided on some heavy seaw...