Pewley Down (27/05/2013)

No sign of the female Red-backed Shrike from yesterday.  A very picturesque site though.

Broxhead Common (25/05/2013)

The Roller seen immediately on arrival sitting in a bush.  Quite elusive throughout the time I spent there, disappearing for a while and then suddenly re-appearing, usually fairly distant and not easy to photograph especially given the heat haze.  David Ryves who was on the Morocco tour I went on turned up so we had a good old chat.  At this site there was a nice Woodlark, Tree Pipit, distant Red Kite and a Buzzard.

Tices Meadow (19/05/2013)

No sign of the Temmincks' Stint but a bonus of a pair of summer plumaged Black-necked Grebes

Pennington/Keyhaven Marshes and New Forest (12/05/2013)

First went to the marshes where highlights were good views of Common Terns, a small selection of waders and a couple of Little Terns.

NE Hants RSPB trip to Beaulieu Road Station (12/05/2013)

Five people (including the leader) met at Shatterford Car Park.  The weather started as cloudy with sunny spells but by the
end of the day deteriorated into rain (it was cold all day).

We walked anti-clockwise and first birds noted were a couple of Swifts and Swallows. We then reached the main area of woodland.
We heard some distant, light drumming which sounded good for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.  We made our way towards to where the
drumming was coming from and then I distinctly heard the call of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker a couple of times, however, as we
got nearer to the sound it shut up and was never heard again (or seen for that matter).

We then went in search for Redstarts and eventually we managed to pin down four birds (all in the same bush) - 3 males and a female.

We proceeded through the forest and had good views of a Goldcrest and an alarm calling Garden Warbler.  We then started walking through
the open area and heard a Cuckoo but the bird never showed.  There were half a dozen House Martins flying around and a couple of distant
Hobbies but they weren't seen well.

We then strolled over to Denny Wood to see if there were any Lesser Spots or Wood Warblers here - no luck.  We did get a distant Stonechat
perched high on a tree.

We then walked back to the car park seeing little else apart from a couple of fly-over Crossbills, however, the light was not good
and they were just silhouettes.

After lunch we agreed to try for Wood Warblers at Bolderwood where I saw them last year.  We drove over in convoy and then strolled past the
deer enclosure and did a big loop in the deteriorating weather.  We had views of a couple of Chiffchaff's and a Siskin and best of all
a Spotted Flycatcher.

I then led everybody down a wet path to try and cross the stream and we spotted a female Grey Wagtail on the stream.  I then heard the
distinct song of a Wood Warbler and we had extremely brief views of the bird that was singing but as soon as we got onto it the rain
started and it was never seen again.

The rest of the walk was getting back to the car getting gradually wetter and wetter.

Picture of Comma butterfly taken at Dinton Pastures:

Moor Green Lakes (06/05/2013)

I quick trot around the lakes and the new diggings revealed that the Grasshopper Warbler was gone (or at least not singing).  Highlights on a poor visit was a drake Mandarin and a Reed Warbler.