Throu' The Lens
  • Home
    • Images >
      • New Photos
      • Moor Green Lakes
      • Keyhaven/Pennington >
        • Farlington
        • Christchurch Harbour Area
        • Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
        • Titchfield Haven
        • Rye Harbour Nature Reserve 2
        • Mallorca
        • Cyprus
      • Lanzarote
      • Costa Blanca
      • Other Locations
      • Lockdown Birds
      • Blog
  • Contact

Male Hobby

7/27/2011

0 Comments

 
A very handsome looking male Hobby landed on the gravel bank at the New Workings, Moor Green Lakes today at 11.05am. It's a regular visitor to the reserve and is often seen. It was too far away for photos but gave good views through the telescope. It appeared to be eating something, but I couldn't make out what it was. Whilst it was eating its prey, it was being mobbed by small finch type birds, which could not be positively identified. Perhaps it was the same species that it had caught.
0 Comments

Peregrine

7/20/2011

0 Comments

 
With all the rain in Berkshire yesterday, I had high hopes of perhaps something more unusual turning up at Moor Green Lakes today. But I was wrong, nothing out of the ordinary appeared, at least whilst Gordon and myself were there. Never mind that's birding for you. Later on we where scanning through the Gulls and Lapwings on the diggings at the New Workings, when suddenly they all took to flight. A quick look towards Manor Lake showed that those birds, again Gulls and Lapwings, were already in the air. We immediately began searching for a possible raptor as the cause for their panic and we weren't disappointed when a Peregrine landed in the middle of the diggings. After having a good look around for three minutes it took off towards the North West, much to the relief of the Gulls and Lapwings. The Peregrine more than made up for not seeing something new.  It's true what they say, 'every cloud has a silver lining'.
0 Comments

Moor Green Lakes

7/11/2011

0 Comments

 

I went to my usual birding site today, arriving at about 09.40. The sun was shining on what promised to be another lovely day. Birds were conspicious by their absence as far as the New Workings, where sightings began to improve. Lapwings were starting to congregate at Manor Lake and East Fen, a total of 41 were seen, which were with 45 Tufted Ducks. Further on 8 Lesser Black Backed Gulls were resting and preening on the small gravel islands together with 5 Herring Gulls. With the sunny conditions and an almost clear blue sky, it was easy picking out birds in the distance through the scope. A Buzzard was flying low over the western end of the diggings, whilst a male kestrel hunted over Manor Farm. At the sewage farm, 4 juvenile Chiffchaffs were feeding, preening and sunbathing. The sunbathing part was something I had not seen before. They would perch on the concrete wall and lay flat, spreading their wings out, much like a Jay does when wanting ants to clean its feathers of lice. They didn't stay in that position long, certainly not time enough for ants to do their work. It looked as though they were enjoying what they were doing. Opposite to where I was on the far side of the workings I could see the warden and a few other people, one of them carrying a ladder, making their way towards the owl box. Shortly afterwards I saw what I thought were 2 young Barn Owls being ringed and returned to the box. All this was being viewed through my telescope, a distance of about 375 yards. I will contact the bird recorder of the site to confirm my sighting, good news that the owls so far this year have been successful. On the subject of owls, the Little Owl was sunning itself in its usual spot in the old oak tree.  
0 Comments

First Post!

7/9/2011

2 Comments

 
Keyhaven/Pennington 1st July 2011
It's a lovely sunny summer's morning and I'm off to Keyhaven/Pennington on the Hampshire coast, it's one of my favourite spots and its a welcome relief from decorating at home. Its an early morning start for my birding friend Gordon Duffus and myself. We usually take turns in each others cars to cut petrol costs when travelling further afield  and have a good chat at the same time.
On arrival at Keyhaven I was surprised to realise how little wind there was, this area is normally very windy and you get blown about a bit. Next to the harbour, on the other side of the bridge, Common Terns were fishing in the river. On walking away from Keyhaven harbour towards Pennington we noticed a flock of 20+ Gannets, adult and juveniles, circling above the sea on the far side of Hurst Beach. Later on we did a spot of sea watching and were rewarded with 3 Eiders, 2x Male and a female coming ashore near to us, we had good views through our scopes of these spectacular sea ducks. There were hardly any waders about, but we expected that for the time of year. Further on Little Terns were fishing in the lagoons. A male Dartford Warbler was seen singing from the gorse which form a hedge alongside the lagoons and coastal walkway. A total of 56 different species were seen on the day which turned out superb, for both birding and weather.
2 Comments

    Author

    Hi, I'm Roger Milligan. I have been interested in birds since I was a boy growing up in south east London, which was a long time ago. I now live in Farnborough, Hampshire.

    Archives

    June 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.