Spent Sunday afternoon / evening around Middle Wallop in a fairly strong North / East Wind, and drove home after dark via Mottisfont.

A fairly sheltered field near Middle Wallop airfield was full of Starlings and Fieldfares. Plus a few Chaffinches and Yellowhammers. Wasn't able to pick out anything else amongst them, but the nearby sewage works had a reasonable number of Pied Wagtails. This is the first decent looking sewage farm I've found in Hampshire for birds! Most others are either out of sight, or "sealed".. This one looked ideal for Wagtails and other Migrants, and might be worth checking out more frequently despite the obvious down side.

In nearby bushes were 2 Chiff-Chaffs. Could have been migrants, but difficult to say with certainty. I don't see many wintering Chiff Chaffs round these parts, but if there are a few, then a sewage farm would be a good place for them. Headed to farmland west of the Wallops near dusk, and saw 2 Grey Partridges, 2 Barn Owls, 2 Foxes and 2 Roe Deer.. all showing really close. Also 2 Linnets flew over and a few more Yellowhammers were in the hedges. A few Lapwings started to call after dark. Guess there could be an outside chance of hearing Stone Curlew, but no such joy on this occasion.

Drove home via some back roads and was able to add 1 more Barn Owl and 3 Tawny Owls. Braked to avoid a Hedgehog in one of the villages, and briefly held up a car behind me while he scurried to safety. Hedgehog disappeared into the verge before I became a victim of road rage!

Have devoted March to searching for Owls, and have 1 weekend left to go searching. Salisbury Plain, West of the Avon could be my next stop, or the north of the New Forest. The weather for next weekend looks appalling, with snow forecast even for Southampton! If I can time my trip to be after the worst of the weather it could either be very slow, or really good! Not sure how a thick layer of snow would affect the sightings. Suspect there will be less activity, but a better chance of seeing them.