Explored the Common and "Bog" east of the village this afternoon. Looks like my joy at finding Stonechat, Buzzard and Roe Deer last week may be short lived as these were the first three species I saw at this location! The Common is huge, but very popular with dog walkers, so an early morning visit looks like the best chance of seeing anything decent. Did see Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and the habitat looks good for Lesser Spotted too, but not today. Might need to consider wellies next time too!
A few Redwings and a small party of Long Tailed Tits was about the only other sightings. Good to get familiar with these places for later in the year! Habitat looked good in places for migrants, and maybe even Dartford Warbler or Woodlark if I'm very lucky, but haven't noticed any historical records on the web.
Not sure how far I have to go to see Yellowhammers round here! Suspect I'll have to go north to find arable farmland and finch flocks.
Road to nearby Chandler's Ford had a couple of stubbly fields, and an ex-landfill site that I wouldn't mind checking out next weekend.
The house loft has a small number of Pipistrelle bat droppings under the top beam. Will be interesting to see if bats are still using the loftspace, and how many! Suspect it is just a stopping off point as opposed to a full scale maternity roost, but I'll find out in the summer no doubt.
Quite surprised that I haven't seen a single Siskin or Redpoll yet in what looks like ideal woodland. Is this a bad winter for them so far? Still a couple of months for winter to kick in properly I guess.
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