A great week

It's been a great week for birding. On Monday I was at Moor Green Lakes during the morning where the highlight was two WHITE WAGTAILS and in the afternoon my wife wanted to shop in Lymington, which is situated at the other end of the county to where I live.Two miles from Lymington is  Milford-on-sea, where two juvenile SABINES GULL had been reported at Sturt Pond, so being the dutiful husband I dropped her off and went to Milford, result. When I arrived I got talking to another birder whose name happened to be Winston Churchill from Oxford, who was on holiday in the area for the week. He certainly chose the right weather for his holiday, as it was gloriously sunny and warm. We walked to Sturt Pond together but the SABINES were not there. However we didn't have to wait for long as about thirty gulls came into land on the pond and amongst the mainly Black Headed variety were two juvenile SABINES and beautiful gulls they were, with their distintive black edge to their wings. On Tuesday Gordon Duffus and I went to Farlington Marshes in the hope of seeing the BEARDED TITS which were apparently showing well amongst the reed beds, the weather again was very warm and sunny. We were not disappointed and by the end of the day we had had some marvellous views of these fantastic little birds and I was surprised to see so many of them amongst the reeds, I saw at least twenty five to thirty birds. There were also several BLACK TERNS near one of the offshore islands and more LITTLE EGRETS, on a nearer smaller island, than I had ever seen before, I counted thirty, all waiting for the tide to ebb so that they could resume feeding. Thursday saw me back at Moor Green Lakes and although there was nothing new, the HOBBY was still present and giving perfect flying displays against a clear blue sky coupled with the catching and eating of a few dragonflies. A super birding week, with the good weather an added bonus.