#harbridge

Also for the lesharold fans, consider Leshawna/Harold/Bridgette

24/03/18-Harbridge and Blashford Lakes 

We headed to Blashford this Saturday but firstly called into the nearby wet fields beside the River Avon at Harbridge good for geese and swans especially and after a little bit of scanning I found the Bewick’s Swan in the record shot in the first picture in this photoset of the ones I took today. It was a year tick for me and I was thrilled to see this as its definitely one of my greatest birds this year. That’s the sixth consecutive year list of mine a Bewick’s Swan has appeared on but I only really see them in a couple of places in the country and some of those years could easily have been ones when I didn’t see them so its a lovely bird I never take for granted. 

What’s more my Mum and her husband saw these in abundance at Slimbridge for his birthday in February when I stayed behind and looked after the dogs, so it was me who needed this bird for my year list and it was in every sense my year tick. I scouted it finding sightings on the HantsBirdNews Twitter account this morning so suggested we come to Blashford and call into Harbridge and I spotted it when there. This was also such a special sighting because with Mute Swans seen as early as New Year’s Day in 2018 by me and Whooper Swans a star of our January Scotland trip, I’ve seen all three wild British swans this year and I have only achieved that once before in 2013.

Upon arriving at Blashford I firstly went into the Tern hide where I quickly got another year tick when I saw a Wheatear on one of the extensive shingle banks. This took my bird year list to 136 and I was fascinated to confirm in my mind that the Wheatear was my 136th bird of 2017 as well. I don’t remember anything like that happening before, obviously for example the Black-headed Gull has been my first bird of a year more than once and other common species that you always see early in years may have had the same numerical position coming onto my year list as they did in other years but I certainly never remember this happening well into a year list. 

Furthermore I saw my first Wheatear of 2017 on 15th April at Durlson, so that clearly indicates how far ahead I am of 2017 and any other year list of mine when considering how many birds I’d seen on a given date. The Wheatear is always a crucial spring year tick for me, in a quartet of spring birds with Skylark, Yellowhammer and Linnet is where I often put it. Its great I’ve seen the Wheatear as it shows spring is coming through but I have also now seen all four of those birds this year already which is a good position to be in knowing I won’t have to worry about these four birds I perhaps ought to see easily every year.

From the Tern hide another highlight was seeing a Buzzard fly really close above. As you may have picked up when I produce more than four pictures in a day I often when its little Tumblr posts and sometimes when doing a full blog like this select only four pictures to post on Tumblr the highlights as it were. But today every picture I took for me had a talking point about it so I included all five. The second picture in this photoset is a Chaffinch in the woods and the talking point is as I walked between the Tern and Goosander hide I heard it make a really entertaining and unfamiliar call which was interesting.

The third picture in this photoset is a landscape overlooking what you can see from the Goosander hide, having gone from the Tern to Goosander which I hadn’t done this sequence for years I appreciated how high up the Goosander is compared to the Tern. From this hide I actually saw Goosander which I hadn’t before. The biggest entertainment from my time in there was from the two Lesser Black Backed Gulls shown in the fourth picture in this photoset. As Canada Geese flew down and swam towards them they made a right racket, their calls going on ages and ages. 

At the Woodland hide my next and final stop today via a visitor centre toilet stop Brambling and Siskin were once again highlights, its perhaps the last time until next winter I’ll see them here and I’m having such a great year for Siskins in 2018 as I’ve mentioned previously. I took the fifth picture in this photoset of a Reed Bunting and I enjoyed seeing two, I got them as a year tick in Moray but had to take the guide’s word for it a bit and only saw them briefly fly. But I saw two Reed Buntings today and when this one came to the feeder it was probably the closest view I’d ever got of one. I don’t even have to check to know this is my best ever Reed Bunting picture. It fascinates me that I have been taking pictures for nine years but there are still stones un-turned in terms of common birds I have never photographed or never photographed well so its always a thrill when I do get that moment for the first time with a species. At the Woodland Hide also I saw more Grey Squirrels than I ever had there at once with four of them. 

Harbridge Hants.

Went for a walk on part of the Avon Valley Path, starting at Ibsley and heading towards Fordingbridge. It was blazing hot and no shade, but glorious. The flood plain was overgrown with reeds and grasses and all the hedgerows were full of small brown butterflies (Meadow Browns?). I’ve not seen such an abundance of butterflies in years, a testament to the age and lack of pesticides in these water meadows, now left unused by animal or machine it seems. 

A fine,old church at Harbridge with lovely old gravestones. Centuries of burials with family names recurring. 

14/01/17-Harbridge and Blashford Lakes 

After my amazing week off to begin the year which involved me seeing lots of birds and amazing species in a similar fast start to 2016 my record year list, I worked all week this week so I was itching to get out this afternoon not least because there were a load of common birds I had yet to see this year. I went to one of my favourite nature reserves Blashford Lakes via the usual bird filled fields at nearby Harbridge and I got 9 year ticks in total, many of them were these common species but lots of them were more really special year ticks. This made me happy today but what I also liked was my efficiency at seeing birds, nearly every bird I saw for the first time this year today is one I would’ve expected to see at this reserve and every time I got to a different bit of the site I thought about which bird I may see in each habitat and I did manage to see each bird on the mind in each habitat. 2017 is now my highest year list after 2 weeks so its been another brilliant start and I will now talk you through my year ticks and everything else of note today. 

So we first arrived at Harbridge where my Mum had heard reports of a Cattle Egret but no sign, however that first bird on the mind for this habitat for me was the Egyptian Goose as I had seen them here before. So we stopped at the roadside when we’d seen some geese and we looked and they were Egyptian Geese. My next year tick of the day came soon after and this made this stop really notable, as first we saw a Redwing which was my big bird of New Year’s Day when I saw it over Lakeside but then to my delight we saw the Fieldfare in the 1st picture in this photoset of mine from today, my first this year and a bird I really respect. This came totally out of the blue as the sunlight and bright blue sky that stayed with us the rest of the afternoon as you can see from the 2nd picture in this photoset of Blashford’s Ibsley Water later came out. What made it even more special was that as well as many Egyptian Geese and some Mute Swans flying over the field was absolutely full of Fieldfares and Redwings, these are really beautiful birds and I had never seen them in these numbers close up before there really was one everywhere you looked with Fieldfares flying in with the Swans too. 

It was then onto Blashford and that landscape picture of mine I just mentioned was taken at my first port of call, the Tern Hide. Here I managed to pick out my first Lesser Black Backed Gulls of the year and I got a quick glimpse of one of the birds I had come for when I saw a male Goldeneye, a great bird which was a relief to see as Blashford is the main place I see these and they have kept me waiting in a year before now. 

I then went to the other side of the reserve and took a route to the Ivy North Hide which deliberately went through perfect Green Woodpecker habitat as this one of my favourite birds which I usually see early on over Lakeside had eluded me 2 weeks into 2017, but not anymore as I saw something like one flying into a tree and when I got nearer again it flew out showing its unmistakable colours. I thought to myself that I had seen my 9th favourite bird this year and the only one I might add to that today was the Kingfisher. I arrived at Ivy North Hide where I got a great showing of a Kingfisher last autumn and I just saw something flying gently across the lake. A look revealed the unmistakable orange and blue glow of a Kingfisher and I had seen two favourite birds for the first time this year in a row. These year ticks both got me very excited and really meant a lot to me, especially as they both starred early on in 2016 so they were ones I missed a little and really wanted them on my 2017 year list which they are now. 

I managed to successfully predict my 3rd successive year tick in a way when I headed to the Woodland Hide from Ivy North and had Treecreeper on the mind, it did give me a showing in that hide once again later but I saw it for the first time before I even got there, on a tree as I was on the path to the right of the hide about half way between the path and the hide. This was another sweet one that gave me a lot of relief to get it as a year tick, as was seeing my first Reed Bunting of the year when in the hide. Also when in the hide two more of my favourite birds the Jay and Great Spotted Woodpecker showed well and I photographed the latter in the 4th picture in this photoset, as I did a lovely Greenfinch in the 3rd. 

As the sun started heading down as pictured behind trees in the 5th picture in this photoset, I headed to the Ivy South hide where it was another bird I thought I might see today which I saw just before getting into the hide, the Goldcrest, which became my 9th year tick of the day. I just picked out its shape amongst Long-tailed Tits as it was getting darker and I was really happy to see this and it capped off a brilliant Saturday trip to keep my momentum going with the bird year list. I amazed myself by seeing a 100 birds before January had ended in my big year last year and I think I’d like to have a crack at doing that again and even earlier with 96 already clocked up which is amazing and I feel so lucky! 

11/03/16-Quick call into Harbridge and walk at Rockford Common in the New Forest 

In what’ll probably prove to be the penultimate trip of my time off before starting work we headed this way today in search of a bird before the walk. I got a hat-trick of year ticks today and like another hat-trick early this year in this trip http://dansnaturepictures.tumblr.com/post/137228364772/130115-river-itchen-and-portsmouth-as-predicted I seemed to predict it. The first year tick of the day at Hardbridge was easy to predict as we’d been reading about it being there all week, the Bewick’s Swan. We got quite a distant view but it was great to see its yellow bill and always a bird I love to see. 

We then moved onto Rockford Common where I took the 2 pictures today, where I could sense spring in the air with it nice and sunny and me not needing a coat. I had a sense that I might see something spring like today, most likely something I considered a spring bird or a butterfly. It was the former, a Chiffchaff which is always a milestone as you feel the season’s changing. 

The third year tick was probably the most special, a Jack Snipe flying up as we wondered through the heathland. This was predicted as it was becoming one of my targets and on Tuesday I got a picture of a Common Snipe. Just out of curiosity I revisited the ID between the Snipe and Jack Snipe so was looking at Jack Snipes this week and then I saw one today. This is probably one of the best Jack Snipe views I’ve ever got, I heard my Mum shout it and saw it flying up, and then I was just able to get the binoculars on as it was going down to see the distinct stripes. 

This ends a great week for birdwatching for me taking my year list to 122. Its still much higher at this stage than my last 2 year lists and its only 3 behind my 2011 year list total. It feels amazing once again to be so close. 

Laurel and David came all the way to Colorado from Chicago to spend some r&r with family and in the mountains. It was so fun to meet them in the morning at Evergreen Lake House and get in on the mountain time! It was also the first time I got to meet Laurel and David in person and I’ll tell you they were even more sweet and adorable in person than I even imagined.

I love David’s smile and how he lights up when he looks at Laurel, I love seeing them snuggle and hearing them talk about their weekend and how much fun they had together and with Laurel’s family. It was one of those mornings, walking around the lake and seeing a couple truly in love that rejuvenates me. The mountain air was fresh and crisp and the company was wonderful. I can’t wait to spend more time with them next year as they celebrate their wedding!

-Katie