December update

I don't seem to have had time to update recently, something I promise to remedy in the New Year. Quite a bit has been going on at Blashford recently, the Ivy South hide is open and has a ramp for access, the camera equipment installation continues and work has started on the extension to the Sand Martin wall.

On the wildlife front there has been little new around, despite the colder than average weather, most disappointingly, so far at least, there has been no sign of a Bittern. This is not to say that there have not been birds worth seeing however. A run through of recent sighting is below, under the Cormorant picture, as you can see I have not just failed to update the blog, but also to take any pictures of note.

Goosander numbers have reached at least 71, roosting in the SE bay of Ibsley Water by the Goosander hide. The Bewick's Swans from Ibsley/Harbridge area have also been roosting on the lake with at least 18 birds seen on some days. The Great White Egret has been seen a little more frequently towards the end of the month and is now fairly regularly feeding on Rockford Lake. On Ivy Lake some 450 Teal are of note and a Green Sandpiper has been regular. The reeds in front of the Ivy North hide have Cetti's Warbler, several Water Rail and up to 5 Chiffchaffs.

At the Woodland hide and the feeders around the Centre area a few Siskin and up to 9 Lesser Redpoll have been seen and although there are good numbers of Chaffinch there do not seem to be any Brambling at present.

The gull roost on Ibsley Water is still large and attracting some 15 or so Yellow-legged Gulls, earlier in the month also 3 Mediterranean Gulls and at the end of the month an adult Caspian Gull. This last bird often seems to turn up in the early afternoon and stand on the island in the extreme NW corner of the lake.

I will make another update before the end of the year and try to be more regular with the info in 2010.

A few changes and a bit of luck

The weather does not improve, frequent rain and wind, however we have been very lucky with tasks and activities. Thursday's volunteers managed to be out in a dry slot and on Wednesday the guided walk also passed off almost dry, the hides come in very useful at times!

There was little change in the birdlife during the week until Friday. On Friday when I opened up the Tern hide it was plain that there had been a small arrival of Goldeneye, with at least 4 drakes and 5 redheads (and this just on a quick look), also there were 9 Ruddy Ducks with 4 drakes and I know there have been at least 10 female/imms recently. There were also at least 60 Black-tailed Godwits no doubt attracted to the valley by the recently flooding.

At the Woodland hide and around the Centre the number of finches is slowly increasing, although still only 2 Brambling have been seen, but there are now 50 or so Chaffinches. Cetti's Warblers are still singing near the Ivy North hide and in the silt pond near the Ivy South hide. There are also at least 2 Chiffchaffs, mostly near the Ivy North hide.

After two days of being on the run in the reeds between Goosander and Lapwing hides I finally managed to get the two loose ponies back onto the Ibsley shore. There is also another Chiffchaff in this area, usually near Lapwing hide.

Today we counted the lakes, which is to say we counted all the waterbirds on all the lakes within the Blashford complex. I seriously doubted that we would be able to when I started, it was raining so hard that I could not even see across Ibsley Water. Luckily things improved and the totals at the end were rather more than I had expected. Looking out at Ibsley Water there do not appear to be that many birds about at present, but this is because they are well scattered around the lakes. A few of the total show that there were 1802 Coot and 572 Gadwall, the first is a species for which the lakes are nationally important (i.e. they hold over 1% of the UK population) and the second a species of international importance (over 1% of W. European population). In both cases the counts next month are quite likely to be somewhat higher, with Gadwall perhaps much higher, but we will see.

Other minor highlights were 10 Great Crested Grebes and 7 Little Grebe on Ellingham Lake, which rarely has even this many birds. There were also as many birds as I have seen in a while on Blashford Lake, but there was nobody sailing today, so this might account for this.

Away from the water 2 Brambling were reported from the Woodland hide and a Lesser Redpoll was at the feeder there once again. I saw a couple of Chiffchaffs on the path between Rockford and Ivy Lakes, they might be the same ones that are often seen near the Ivy North hide, or then again perhaps they are different. There was also a pair of Bullfinch there and a flock of some 35 Goldfinches, the last feeding on Ragwort seeds.

At the end of the day a scatter of Yellow-legged Gulls as usual on Ibsley Water, but I did not get the chance to check further as one of the ponies on the Mockbeggar shore has got out again and a quick bit of temporary fence was needed to ensure it does not get out onto the road overnight.

Ivy South hide revealed

The Ivy South hide, closed a fortnight ago to allow reconstruction is now once again open for business. There is still some work to be done putting in the new access ramp but there are temporary steps for now.

It has been quiet a big job. The old hide needed to be dismantled, great work by the Thursday volunteer team to get this all done on the first morning of closure. The next day the base structure had to be removed and the trees that had grown up around it had to be removed and the roots dug out. The site then looked as though a bomb had hit it and so it needed to be levelled ready for the new hide. I also cleared a couple of dead and dying alders that threatened to fall onto the new hide this should also result in an improved the view. A couple of these trees were felled int the water to provide Kingfisher perches. I don't know if they were checking things out, but there were two Kingfishers flitting about for much of the time we were working.

Last Monday the team from Gilleards arrived bright and early to start work. After a few anxious moments when it looked like we might not get the lorry all the way down to the build site. However by then end of the first day all the supporting structure was in place and by just after lunch on Tuesday the hide was built.

On Wednesday the digger returned to tidy up the path and clear the damage caused when we struggled to get the lorry to the site on Monday. This left the way clear for the return of the Thursday volunteer crew, there were six screens to construct, display boards to put up and a set of temporary steps to go in. By the middle of the afternoon this was one so just over a fortnight after we closed th eold hide the new one is up and running.

An access ramp will be constructed as soon as the materials arrive after which the path and area behind the hide will be made good, so the job will not be fully completed for a week or two yet and it wil be necessary to close again for perhaps a day or two.

Hopefully visitors will appreciate the new hide, it is a bit higher, longer and wider than the old one and clearing a few trees has considerably improved the view both to the left and right.

Sun, screens and the last dragonfly?

Work continues on the new Ivy South hide, the main construction was completed yesterday (Tuesday) and today we started on the screens and tidying up the path. All being well tomorrow we will complete the screens and put in some temporary steps to allow the hide to be used until the ramped access can be built.

We have been blessed with good weather ever since we started building on Monday, I just hope it lasts through tomorrow. The sunshine yesterday saw a few Red Admirals out and about (the one below was near the Woodland hide) and near the Centre a Common Darter dragonfly. My latest ever Common Darter was on the 18th November, so if the days continue frost free I might better that.
On Ibsley Water a party of 18 Pintail were seemingly newly arrived, they are certainly the first I have seen on the reserve for some time. There was also a Green Sandpiper and 2 Black-tailed Godwits in the morning, although both species were distant. The most obliging wader was the Snipe pictured below that was on the bank in front of the Tern hide.
A few other birds of note were about with a Brambling near the Centre and some Fieldfare overhead. There was also a Lesser Redpoll on the feeders at the Woodland hide. In the morning I heard calling Water Rails both at the Ivy North hide and in the silt pond near the Woodland hide. There were also Cetti's Warblers in both of these places.

Just off the reserve the family of three (2ads, 1 juv) Bewick's Swans remain in the field north of the road at Ibsley Bridge, these are the same birds that spent the day on Ibsley Water last week, no doubt resting after having newly flown in.

Another fine day, so fine that there were Red Admirals flying around once again. The flush of fungi continues, the picture shows a rather fine clump on a cut alder log near the Education Centre.

Gilliards arrived early to start putting up the new Ivy South hide and made good progress, completing the base supports by the end of the day. Getting the lorry carrying the new hide down to the site was a bit touch and go at times but luckily it was just possible to back all the way down the track.

Other news today included the first sighting this winter of a Brambling at the Woodland hide. Around lunchtime a Peregrine briefly chased the Lapwings and two Black-tailed Godwits over Ibsley Water, although it failed to catch anything.

In the morning I received a sad call to say that a large dog Otter had been killed on the road at Ibsley village on Saturday. This was almost certainly the one I saw from the Lapwing hide a month or so ago as this was only about 500m away and the territories of adult males cover large areas. The corpse was brought in for collection by the Environment Agency. The picture shows the animal's hind foot, with the webbing and large size very clear.

After the storm Blashford has a butterfly day.

What a contrast today was, fine, sunny and with no more than a light breeze. Despite looking I failed to find anything blown in by yesterday's gales, despite 100 mph gusts very little seems to have been blown in anywhere along the south coast.

In fact it was so fine today there were Red Admirals flying about and even Common Darters in pairs egg-laying in pools near the Goosander hide.

Rockford Lake is still probably home to more wildfowl than any other, although Ivy Lake has the greatest number of Gadwall. However Rockford is holding most of the Mute Swans, including a few colour-ringed birds like the one in the picture. Most, or all have been ringed at the bottom end of the Avon Valley in Christchurch. I do not have the details of this bird but will post them when I do.
The recent rain combined with the still mild temperatures have resulted in a great flush of fungi all over the reserve. A range of the is shown below.

Other birds around the reserve today included 8 Ruddy Duck (including 3 drakes), 7 Goldeneye (including 2 drakes), a few Goosander, a Green Sandpiper and a Black-tailed Godwit, all on Ibsley Water. There was also a report of 2 Pink-footed Geese with the Greylags briefly on Ibsley Water in early afternoon. In the silt pond near the Woodland hide a singing Cetti's Warbler was good to hear and there was at least one Chiffchaff near the Ivy North hide.

At dusk the usual gull roost gathered on Ibsley Water, with at least 14 Yellow-legged Gulls amongst the thousands of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. There was also what was almost certainly a 1st winter Ring-billed Gull, probably the one seen about a week ago. That I could not be completely sure was due to seeing it only briefly in flight and losing sight of it when it pitched into the mass of gulls to the west of the Tern hide. It was not only the number of birds but also the fact that I was trying to look directly into the light which thwarted efforts to find the bird on the water.