A Stint on Ibsley Water

Mist, followed by drizzle soon turning to rain, which lasted all day. It is rare for whole day to be wet, but today managed it.

Looking through the mist from the Tern hide at the start of the day I saw 7 dunlin and a ringed plover, almost what was there yesterday but not quite, were these mostly the same birds or an entirely different group? There were also 13 Egyptian geese, a juvenile common tern, the great white egret, 2 little egret, a sparrowhawk, 30 wigeon and 4 pintail. These were the first pintail I have seen on the lake this season.

At Ivy North a calling water rail was the only thing of note. On the silt pond by the path to the Ivy South hide there was a good selection of wildfowl including wigeon, gadwall, teal and mallard. From the Ivy South hide 63 tufted duck were more than recently and there were also 2 drake pochard.

Later in the day a little stint had joined the dunlin on Ibsley Water, the first of the year and a useful extra bird for our BTO Challenge total.

The greatest sighting of the day was made in the lobby of the Centre, I was walking between the offices when I glanced at the big screen, which was relaying pictures form the pond, when I saw a grass snake, evidently using the camera as a route out of the pond so the whole length of the body passed up the screen, like some huge monster, an amazing sight.

Perhaps surprisingly as I locked up the Ivy North hide, in the continuing rain, there was a migrant hawker dragonfly hunting flies outside the hide.