Peter Jones Wildlife blog

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.