The few waders that have been hanging around on Ibsley Water seem to have all deserted us, I could find only Lapwings on Friday morning. Pochard numbers have crept up to ten but little else seems to have changed on the water in the last few days.
I was up near the Lapwing hide to fix a gateway before the rain came and was rewarded with a singing Cetti's Warbler and in the willows at least three Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap. I also noticed that the logbook in the hide records 13 Goosander for the previous evening.
At the north end of Ivy Lake 10 Shoveler, 43 Gadwall and 35 Tufted Duck were near the hide. I am planning to deal with a couple of fallen willows on the lake shore here next week so their peace will be temporarily shattered.
In the moth trap a Blair's Shoulder Knot was the first of the autumn. As a primarily garden species thanks to the main food plant being Leylandii cypress I am a little surprised that I catch them so regularly at Blashford.
There was a little overhead migration during the day with small numbers of Swallows, Linnets and Skylarks. It turned out that there had been a large movement of birds along the coast though. The Avon, despite being orientated N/S does not seem to be a major channel for most migrants. We clearly get some waders and other waterbirds and hirundines, but most small migrants obviously do not use it as a route.
One item of late news from Thursday was a report of a Hen Harrier from Ibsley Water in the afternoon as yet I don't know who saw it or what plumage it was in. Still two species of harriers in the last few days cannot be bad, even if I saw neither of them!
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