Sunday New Forest wander

As I previously alluded to the weather was not very favourable for ringing this weekend so instead, on sunday, we headed to the New Forest with binoculars and cameras to see what birds we could find.

Ibsley Common/Digden Bottom
Earlier in the week a Great grey shrike had been reported in one of the closest part of the forest so we headed there first hoping for a glimpse. Shrikes are notoriously mobile requiring large areas to find their prey so it was expecting alot to turn up and find it sat at the top of a gorse bush. As expected, unfortunately this didn't happen. Getting out of the car we were greeted by a harsh, northerly, bitingly cold wind. We took a quick walk through the areas where the shrike had been reported. After drawing a blank we headed down to the shelter of the valley bottom. We found plenty of birds doing the same; two pairs of Stonechat, a group of Chaffinch (one in song - the first Ive noted this year), two Green woodpecker, two Woodcock, three Bullfinch, a Great spotted woodpecker and a group of Long-tailed tits working their way through the grass feeding on seed heads. We left to delve deeper in the forest having not seeing any sign of the Shrike.

Blackwater Arboretum 
This is the second time I've visited the jewel in the forest and its fastly becoming a firm favourite. After getting into the gated Arboretum we headed straight for the chatter from three Larch trees. A good group (13+) of Siskin were busily feeding.

Siskin - Blackwater Arboretum (Feb 2015)

We noticed two birds that weren't Siskins at all, they were a pair of exotically coloured Crossbills!! This was the first male Crossbill I've ever seen and boy was it fancy!

Male Crossbill - Blackwater Arboretum (Feb 2015

Male Crossbill - Blackwater Arboretum (Feb 2015) 

After a feed on the Larch cones for a few mins they flew off into the forest. We then walked into the centre of the arboretum to see if the Bullfinch were still about. They were and there was a flock around nine strong (5 male, 4 female). It was a treat to see them so close and clearly, feeding on the floor. Two of the UK's most colourful bird species within a few moments of each other - a real treat.

Last week in Jan

Well thats the end of what seems like the longest month of the year. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to wish the year away but nothing really seems to happen in the month of January. In the dark months of winter one thing that has been keeping the nature bothering senses going is the birds, and to be honest I've quite enjoyed birding and hopefully learnt a whole load along the way.

One place that is full of life in winter is Farlington Marshes, a place Im lucky enough to call work. On Tuesday I finally caught up with the Spoonbill, in close quarters on the stream in the centre of the reserve and then a day later I saw the same bird joined by another.

Farlington Spoonbill shorty after awaking from a snooze 

Spoonbill - suspected Juv plumage (abundance of black within the wing)  

On later discussions we thought this bird I managed to get some snaps of was a young bird while the other bird it seems to hang around with is an adult. Only other exciting thing of note was seeing another Marsh harrier hunting the reed beds on the marsh. The most commonly sighted harrier on site has been the strikingly marked male but the bird I saw on Tuesday was a female. Could this be a start of something beautiful....? Could this be a breeding pair later in the year?

Goldcrest in Beechcroft Garden

The weekends weather prevented any bird ringing to take place but we did manage to squeeze in a quick lunchtime session at the office on friday. We caught 4 birds (well technically 5 but I let the chaffinch slip through my fingers after extraction - less said about that the better). Goldcrests were in great numbers for such as short session, three new birds in total, and a new Coal tit.

Coal tit in Beechcroft Garden