Gary Howard's birds and wildlife

Just a couple of days after I twitched the Dark-eyed Junco near Beaulieu in the New Forest came news that there was a Spanish Sparrow just a few miles away at Calshot! I saw the 1996-1998 Waterside in Cumbria individual but they are great rarities and when Mike Buckland said he "needed it" I said I'd let him drive me down for it!

There was a good supporting list of scarce and rare birds in Hampshire so we worked out an itinerary and started with the long-staying cattle egret at Warblington........and dipped! Plenty of Little Egret's but not a sniff of the cattle egret. An hour later we decided to move on and as it was close at hand we nipped over to Hayling Island and saw the wintering Shore Lark on the oyster beds. Seven Black-necked Grebes were scoped in the channel and there were a small number of Brent's present showing at close range. The Shore Lark spends most of it's time hunkered down on a tall, narrow shingle island, apparently often in the very same spot. It's not a great winter for them so it was good to see.

 Brent -adult

Brent - 1st winter

Next on the itinerary was the long-staying (theme developing here!) Ring-billed Gull in Gosport. I'd seen it before Mike returned with the parking ticket - on a small boating lake in a small waterside park. It was lovely and sunny and we went down to get some shots. Our stay was shortened by a photographer with a huge tripod-mounted lens who exhibited no fieldcraft, flushing all the birds and walking towards the sun rather than taking the slightly longer more careful route to join us at a safe distance.

Ring-billed Gull

The morning was fast disappearing so we headed off to Calshot to look for the Spanish Sparrow which despite the news only breaking a few days ago may well have been present for many months. The next couple of hours went nothing close to plan but proved ultimately hilarious and a true British birding occasion. On arrival we duly parked in the beach car-park and walked the 500 yards back to an area of small houses with tiny gardens sitting behind a roadside hedge. Just a couple of other birders were present but the door of one of the terraced houses was open and a sign was pinned-up welcoming birders but asking for a £3 donation to the local Wildlife Trust to be dropped in the bucket provided. A chap came out of the house and said it was the time of day when the bird often laid low in a bush and pointed out a Russian Vine and the roadside hedge as favoured spots and said he'd call if it returned to his garden. He said he was off to check another favoured spot and would give a shout if he saw it. Over the next hour or so we didn't catch a glimpse though it was twice briefly in his garden. Eventually we accepted his invite to join him in the kitchen and found that he was a long-time birder and Hampshire resident very familiar with the New Forest and it's birds and had done a lot of birding and twitching over the years in a wide range of places. He had a great sense of humour and adopted the role of genial host, swapping stories, jokes and information with all and sundry. Eventually we got some very good looks at the Spanish Sparrow as it came into feed and we took some photo's, though shooting through glass is never ideal. We left around 14.00 -thankyou Clive and Vivien for your hospitality and good humour and well done with the collection which has now passed £1700.

Spanish Sparrow -male

Sparrowhawk - female - with 50+ house sparrows to target let's hope the Spanish Sparrow stays lucky!

We set off to Beaulieu next and Hawkhill Inclosure where the (yes you guessed it) long-staying Dark-eyed Junco had apparently been being very elusive all morning. Within a few minutes of leaving the car we strolled up and found it just a few metres away feeding on grain put down for it at the base of an old pine-stump. Fantastic !  We didn't venture anywhere else being content to watch the Junco and a small number of Crossbills before heading for home soon after 16.00.

Dark-eyed Junco - 1st winter male

Crossbill - male