CORN BUNTINGS AT MAIDEN CASTLE

 Being a birder and amateur photographer I use YouTube quite a bit to pick up hints and tips on my hobby and so I have quite a few YouTubers that I subscribe to one is a fantastic photographer called Mike Lane. He put a video up about videoing and photographing Corn Buntings at a place called Maiden Castle near Dorchester, as this is a bird I've never seen and my birding partner in crime Steve Bool hadn't seen one in years we decided to take a road trip down there to get a look at this now pretty rare and still declining Bunting.

maiden castle

If you read the poster below it gives you a brief over view of the history of the Castle.

Steve and myself had gone to a place earlier in the year where there was supposed to have been good numbers of Corn Buntings, but the day we went was so foggy and visibility so bad that we just turned around and headed back home. On this day though it was very bright and sunny so our hopes were high that we would have good views of the birds if they were there.

The Corn Buntings rapid decline is due to the loss of food sources, reduced weed abundance and the removal of field boundaries which have diminished the availability of seeds and insects which are vital for the birds.

Late nesting Corn Buntings often build their nests in fields which are then destroyed during the harvesting process further impacting their population. Also the use of fertilizers and pesticides can badly effect the insects and seeds the birds rely on and the increased use of herbicides have reduced the diversity of plant life and the availability of suitable nesting and foraging habitat. 

At Maiden Castle though the habitat is perfect for Corn Buntings lots of hedgerow good uncultivated fields and the farmers are on board with the local wildlife authorities to keep the habitat wildlife friendly.

As we reached the car park we were greeted by the song which is said to sound like a jangle of keys of the Corn Bunting they were here, not just that they were everywhere we were both delighted. Steve started taking pictures and a bit of video with his digiscope and I took loads of pics with my camera. 

the corn bunting

emberiza calandra

Here's one of Steve's digiscoped short video's of the bird giving it's famous "jangle of keys" call.

It was just brilliant to be in the company of these cracking birds.

After a while we moved on to explore the area, there was thick hedgerow and gorse there which was alive with birds we soon spotted a whitethroat in amongst some bramble.

whitethroat

handsome warbler

Also there were a good number of Linnets, what a handsome bird the males are, especially perched on the gorse.

male linnet

what a handsome bird

There were also a good number of  Yellowhammers the males are stunning.

stunning male yellowhammer

                         

Just over the hedgerow was a field with quite long grass where we spotted some brown hares which was an added bonus to our day.

brown hare

Here's a couple more species that were seen on the day.

wren

male chaffinch

There are Grey Partridge at this site also another very rare and declining species and although we both heard the birds call we never got to see any, but we were more than happy with seeing the Corn Buntings what a fantastic bird.

Maiden Castle you done us proud. Here's a couple of pic's of the habitat and the digiscope king himself Steve Bool.

Big thanks for Steve for doing the driving on what was a brilliant day.

LESSER SPOTTED

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is the smallest of our three resident woodpeckers being no bigger than a sparrow. They live in deciduous woodland and like to forage high in the tops of trees up on the thinner branches so are very difficult to locate. 

They are now very rare and myself and Steve Bool my birding buddy had never seen one. So after having some insider knowledge off a birding mate that they were in the New Forest in Hampshire we decided to head down there to see if we could finally tick off this very rare and illusive bird. Our insider knowledge was that good our mate had told us the location of the exact tree where the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers liked to land on and do some territorial drumming.

We both decided on a really early start so met up at 3am to start the long drive down there. We arrived at the New Forest at 5.30am it was still very dark but we were entertained by the many Deer that shone in the headlights as we drove to the car park.

At first light we made our way to find the area where the Lesser Spotted's hopefully would be.

this is the area where the LSW hopefully were

We found the tree so stood around hoping that the birds would turn up. We were joined after an hour or so by two other birders who had came to the same spot hoping to see the woodpeckers. A Green Woodpecker landed in the tree and was followed a couple of minutes later by this Great Spotted Woodpecker but still no Lesser Spotted's.

male GSW 

Steve then all of a sudden shouted what's that? as a small bird with an unusual flight pattern flew over his head and onto the tree it was the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker a male we were delighted to have finally seen this fantastic bird.

lesser spotted woodpecker

It stayed for a good few minutes giving us excellent views and photographic opportunities.

It finally flew off and although we waited for another half hour or so the bird didn't return but what a session to finally get this cracking little woodpecker.

What a stunning place the New Forest is the views are spectacular.

stunning views

 This horse and trap was a lovely site trotting around the tracks.

horse and trap

We decided to move on to see what else was about and walked up to this flat area which was covered in gorse bushes and scattered trees. There were a few Meadow pipits scattered about.

meadow pipit

Also this handsome Greenfinch was in full song.

greenfinch

We met quite a few birders who told us that Dartford Warblers have also been seen in this area, that's another bird that's been on my bucket list and would be another lifer for yours truly. After scouting about for a while Steve spotted one low in a tree it flew off and landed on top of a gorse bush just long enough for me to get these record shots but I'd seen it brilliant.

dartford warbler another lifer

We came back down to the spot where we'd seen the Woodpeckers still beaming over getting the Dartford Warbler when we spotted a Marsh Tit it was calling loudly as it foraged in a large tree. Steve got the scope ready and took this cracking bit of footage, what a super bird.

The Lesser Spotted didn't show again but we were more than happy with seeing it earlier on.

what a bird

two very happy birders

After 7 hours of birding we decided to call it a day and what a day it had been, a lifer for Steve and two for me no wonder we're smiling, we also saw a distant Goshawk to top the day off. A big thank you yet again to Steve for doing the driving and a big thank you to myself for buying the coffee and cake. The New Forest what a brilliant place.

A TRIP TO GOLDCLIFF LAGOONS

 I took myself down to Goldcliff Lagoons yesterday 26th March as I hadn't visited this site for a while and now as we're entering Spring I thought it might be a good time for me to take a look at this wonderful little reserve.

There's has been a new electric fence put up around the reserve to stop predators like foxes, badgers and other predatory mammals getting at the ground nesting bird nests during the breeding season. A good thing except the views now for photographers and birders a like is somewhat restricted as they've put the fence along the front of the hides and viewing platforms.

As I walked in the first thing I saw was a Redwing still here in late March and picking some sort of berries from a thick bush. There were singing Chiffchaffs everywhere I got these images as they were busily foraging in-between bursts of their familiar song. 

chiffchaff

singing it's distinctive song 

  

redwing

I went into the first hide where I met fellow birder John Lawton, he makes birding videos on the places he visits and has got his own YouTube channel. 

There were loads of Waders on the Lagoons mostly Black Tailed Godwits with a few Knot in the mix. When they all took off together it made for a spectacular site with them all twisting and turning in the air.

It's usually the presence of a bird of prey like this very distant Marsh Harrier which will spook them.

distant female marsh harrier

When it passes they all settle back down to feed.

blackwits settled back down

Here's one landing on the water.

blackwit coming into land.

We were joined in the hide by two excellent birders Craig Constance and Little Dai who spotted a couple of Bar Tailed Godwits to distant for a pic but a great species to see. They also spotted some Snipe which I did manage to get a distant pic of.

a couple of distant snipe

Avocets are always a beautiful bird to see here's a single bird and a courting couple doing a bit of displaying.

avocet

a displaying couple

We went down to the sea wall where little Dai spotted some diving porpoises way to distant for a photo but we had great views through his scope.

There has been reports of a single Pink Footed Goose swimming around with the Greylags at Goldcliff we managed to see it and I got a photo happy days.

pink footed goose

From the seawall hide we briefly saw a Bittern and Craig spotted a flyover Common Crane which him and Little Dai got very excited about.

This Oystercatcher with a Redshank and Teal for company was the last photograph of the mornings birding.

A very good morning with some good birds seen and them porpoises was an added bonus. The new electric fence although a bit of a pain didn't stop me getting some half decent images although the hides are that far away from the lagoons I think a scope would be handy next time. Made some new friends and learned a bit from them as well, so all in all it was a good day. 

A SPARROWHAWK FLEW IN

 People that feed the birds in their gardens will if their lucky have a Sparrowhawk visit. They're obviously after the finches, tits, thrushes or any other small birds that visit garden feeders as these make up the mainstay of their diet. The female is larger than the male and will tackle birds as big as a woodpigeon but the male being small will mostly hunt the smaller garden birds. I was lucky enough to have a male Sparrowhawk come into our garden as it tried to grab one of the finches that was feeding on the bird table. Luckily for the Finches it failed this time and so stood on a branch near the feeders and also luckily for myself I had my camera handy.

male sparrowhawk

What a handsome bird, I was that excited that during the brief time it was perched and I was firing away with my camera I cut part of his tail off the photo but never the less I think they came out pretty good. 

close up (look at them eyes)

Here are some of the birds that it was after.

chaffinch

blue tit

coal tit

great tit

goldfinch

robin

song thrush

 

nuthatch

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Great experience seeing him swoop into the feeders, it would be great to think that there's a pair nesting somewhere close but who knows as they're very secretive birds, until the next one cheers.