Hampshire birding and beyond

Whilst on Shetland I decided to pop over to the most Northerly Isle in Britain Unst. Primarily to try and get the Pechora Pipit however despite 8 of us searching for a few hours we could not locate it in the vast area of fields at Haroldswick. In hindsight I should have gone over on the day I arrived but I just couldn't handle it after a long drive and boat up. Anyway all was not lost as we headed onto Skaw where we had great views of a Blyth's Reed Warbler. A tick for me and one I had hoped I would see well and not just skulking on the mainland. We searched a few areas of this great island but only got rewarded with a single Yellow Browed Warbler at Halligarth and a few Brambling.

Although this bird was present weeks ago I think it deserves a post just to show off some shots of this very obliging and stunning bird! Shorelark is a very good bird for Hampshire although my 3rd and 2nd on Hayling island! Norfolk has had very good numbers this year so I suppose it isn't a surprise one or two others have been dotted about! On my first visit the light was terrible and being quite a bright faced bird it was very hard to get the image right! Some were too dark and others too bright however I did manage a few usable images from the first visit! On my 2nd visit the light was amazing but with good weather comes plenty of dog walkers and the general public! Most were understanding however some did insist on ignoring birders polite requests to walk round which led to flushing the bird on a few occasions! Also I have read some posts about photographers harassing the bird, generally most were very good! I did walk to where the bird was and positioned m...

Recently up to 3 Short-eared owls have been wintering at Farlington Marshes HWT and after seeing some shots posted online I decided to pay them a visit on Friday 11th November! It was a nice calm, cold sunny day and in the morning I visited the Scaup at Ripley farm reservoir. It showed well in the scope but nowhere near close enough for a decent snaps! I arrived at Farlington around 1:30pm and immediately made my way round to the point field where they tend to roost in the long grass before 'normally' flying around 2:30pm onwards! On the way round I did manage to get a few pics, Moorhen, Meadow pipit and a Wren. Arriving at the point field I was greeted to around c20 very loud 'photographers', even though the Owls were only roosting 50yards away they continued to bellow out instructions on where one was visible! Shortly after I was joined by a familiar face Paul loader who I first met last year photographing a Great northern diver in West Sussex! After ...