More Martins

Bird News: Ibsley Water - sand martin 3000+, house martin 500-1000, swift 1, arctic tern 1 juv.

Ivy Lake - green sandpiper 4.

Centre - hobby 1

I did not see much today as I was chasing around for much of it. I have a contractor doing a bit of reprofiling on the shore of Ibsley Water, which so far seems to be going well. We should end up with a couple of extra islands and some more shallow water habitat. Hopefully we will also be able to get some work done over on Ivy Lake as well.

In the afternoon I finally got over to see the ponies on Mockbeggar Lake for the first time in a while, thankfully they were all fine, although I will probably move them again soon. I was on Mockbeggar for a visit by possibly funders for a project on the WWII heritage of the New Forest, if all goes well it will include a restoration of the old control tower. This building has historical interest and houses a bat roost, but it has also had a history of vandalism and general decay so to see it restored would be a great relief to all concerned. I really hope this proposal goes well as there is a great story to be told. Whilst there I heard ravens flying over, my first for a couple of weeks, I was also pretty sure I heard yellow wagtail, but could not be certain.

I should have some more news tomorrow as I am leading a walk in the morning so I should get a look around the reserve.

Arctic Terns

Bird News: Ibsley Water - c1000 sand martin, 4 dunlin, 1 green sandpiper, 5 arctic tern

Ivy Lake - 2 green sandpiper.

On both of the last two mornings the ringers have been in and caught a lot of birds. Yesterday 110 mixed sand and house martins were caught and this morning more martins and the fourth sparrowhawk of the year, an adult female pictured by Kevin Sayer.

The moth trap was quite well filled although the only new for the year moth was a centre-barred sallow, a real autumn species.

The birds of the day for me were the 5 arctic tern over the south-west corner of Ibsley Water, I don't see them that often and this group, all adults, consisted of birds in a range of plumage from full summer to almost full winter plumage. They are much more elegant in flight than common terns, a result of the different proportions of their wings, which are much longer in the primaries. The 4 dunlin were new and I could find no sign of the knot or ringed plovers, both of which had been around for some time.

Later we were working around the shore of Ivy Lake, opening up the views from the Ivy South hide where two hobbies went over, calling loudly. The other notable wildlife we saw were several water scorpions in the lake, I did try a picture but it was too dark.

Blow-ins

Bird News: Ibsley Water - knot 2, ringed plover 1 ad, 1 juv, common sandpiper 1 juv, peregrine 1 ad. male, sand martin 2000+, swallow c10, house martin c100, arctic tern 1 juv and little gull 1 juv .

No pictures due to terrible wet, windy weather, but as a result lots of birds. The "count " of sand martin was a guestimate at best, there could have been 5000, but the single swift was good and possibly my last until April next year. The rough weather was also responsible for the arctic tern and little tern both, no doubt, storm-driven.

Let's hope for better weather tomorrow.