A funny old day today, providing a bit of activity following a pretty quiet spell for me.

Late morning got a text from Steve "Can’t get out today" Piggott, and, once I’d sorted out some domestic formalities, we were hacking over to the east of the county to a new site for both of us, IBM Lake, Cosham. The target, which was easily ticked off has to go down as possibly the least impressive bird twitched so far this year, a juvenile BLUE-WINGED TEAL. Whilst it spent the whole time we were there on the beach with some scruffy, often asleep, it did have the decency to preen and stretch its wings a few times to show it wasn’t all brown! A new Hampshire bird for me, although despite it clearly not bearing rings I shall not pursue its provenance too keenly as I don’t want to lose it.

Whilst there news came through of another goodie just down the road at Farlington Marshes (usually such news surfaces just after one ets home), and we were soon there. A walk round to The Deeps was briefly disappointing, but it soon flew in, a nice Grey Phalarope, which had a big adult orangey belly patch visible when in flight but was otherwise in winter plumage (and seemingly wholly so when on the water). Certainly not a bird you expect to see on a warm August Bank Holiday! Also added Osprey to the year list whilst there, bringing the tally up to 222, two beyond my start-of-year target. Otherwise birds there included 3 Wheatears, 1 Common Sandpiper and 3+ Yellow Wagtails, the latter my first sightings of the year, following one bird heard only in the spring.

Yesterday, during a family trip to the Isle of Wight saw, and then heard singing, a male Firecrest in the gardens of Osborne House, always a nice bird to get.

And watch this space for updates on my new fad, as I try to get to grips with moths having promised myself I would for some time. Currently I’m content with struggling (mostly) to ID the common stuff and, after not long trying, can only report such bog-standard stuff as Common Rustic, Yellow Shell, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Rush Veneer, Mother-of-Pearl, Marbled Beauty and Square-spot Rustic. Don’t worry, I won’t be boring you with every new addition!

Nor will I be owning up to any of my scores in my latest sporting endeavour, golf. Hopefully I’ll get bored with the latter soon, I’m not showing any immediate signs of competence.

With autumn (for the birds at least) here, I’m getting back into things, so a busy few days to recap.

After a stunning encounter very early on Saturday morning with a family of five foxes on the village cricket pitch (followed later by a slightly less stunning half hour clearing all the scat off the outfield before our game) I actually got some birding in on Sunday.

Started off with a session at Barton (0655-0825), mainly checking wooded areas for migrants (most hopefully Pied Flycatcher). All was pretty quiet, with migrant counts totalling 8 Willow Warblers, 7 Whitethroats, 5 Chiffchaffs, 5 Swallows and 5 Sand Martins. Two families of Stonechats were seen, one including the smart white-rumped continental-type bird first seen in March. Two Black-tailed Godwits went east, and 1 Sparrowhawk, c50 Goldfinches, 16+ Linnets and 1 Goldcrest were also seen.

The rest of the morning was spent with Steve P and Mark H on a successful trip to Titchfield Haven, where we scored with Roseate Tern, a very obliging ringed summer adult that alternated between perching in and out of view and terrorising the Common Terns and Turnstones. Also there was a juvenile Black Tern and 2 Common Sandpipers.

Then yesterday (Monday) morning I skipped of work for an hour and a half thanks to Steve calling me to say he’d found a female/juv Pied Flycatcher at Crockford in the New Forest. Unfortunately I failed to see it, although 2+ Spotted Flycatchers were seen, and singles of Purple Hairstreak and Silver-studded Blue were both my first of the year.

This morning I was back at Crockford, and once again failed to find the Pied Fly. This can be a real problem species in Hampshire for yearlisters, with usually only a couple of dozen records each year. most of which go unreported at the time, and the vast majority of which are one-day birds.

I’d assumed this would be the last birding of the day, but a series of texts early afternoon resulted in a mad dash over to Hayling Island, where Steve and I were treated to superb views of a newly-found juvenile Red-backed Shrike. Only my third record for the county.

The year list now stands at 219, just one short of the start-of-year target. I’m not going to be top of the yearlist table (third or, more likely, fourth I expect), but I’ve had a lot of fun visiting  new sites and generally being irresponsible! That said, I have no intention of doing it again next year!

With the arrival of August (ie: autumn), I’m back birding with a bit more effort again, with three efforts to input today.

Last Sunday morning a pleasant walk around Keyhaven/Pennington Marshes failed to turn up Little Stint or Curlew Sandpiper (large numbers of the latter thad been there the previous day), but a scattering of other waders included 2 Greenshanks, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Little Ringed Plover. Bearded Tits were heard pinging, with other records including 2 Ravens, 1 Shoveler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Eider and 1 Wheatear.

Wednesday evening saw me back at Pennington, where I did connect with Curlew Sandpiper, a smart moulting adult (but couldn’t find the uncharacteristically secretive Little Stints). An adult Black Tern offshore with about 200 Common Terns was also very nice. Four Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Common Sandpipers, 17 Grey Plover, 39 Turnstones and 13 Eider led the supporting cast.

This morning’s session was a bit longer, both in terms of time and distance covered. The alarm was set for 0600, pick up of Steve P arranged for 0700, but fortunately I woke at 0520 and got out earlier. Fortunate because the targetted Spotted Crake at Farlington Marshes showed for a few minutes within 5 minutes of our arrival, but then not again in the hour or more that followed. Another year tick, but more crucially the biggest gap in my Hampshire list finally filled. The fact is I’ve never actually been for one, but as they are annual I really should have put the effort in sooner. A stunning white-headed male Ruff was also there, as well as 4+ Bearded Tits showing well, 2 Greenshanks, 4+ Common Sandpipers and a couple of showy Water Rails.

On the way back home we stopped off at Titchfield Haven/Hill Head in the hope of turning up the Roseate Tern that had been seen at the start of the week (or else another one as this is a regular late-summer site for the species). It wasn’t to be, although 4 Black Terns (2 adults, 2 juvs) were in the large Common Tern flock on the beach, as were 4 Mediterranean Gulls (3 adults, 1 juv) and 2 Little Terns.

One of the highlights of this weekend has been the large number of butterflies using the single buddleia (self-sown just two years ago) in our very small back garden. Seven species in all, including up to 6 Small Tortoiseshells, more than I have seen in the past two years in total. A few other sightings of this one over the weekend are very encouraging given its rarity in recent years.

A shameful lack of entries recently, not entirely due to a lack of activity, more a case of lack of time and/or energy and/or sobriety in the evenings to write anything up.

Spent four days in NE France (Pas de Calais) with the family this week, a pleasant diversion of which more in a bit. Previous birding since the last entry included a very dismal seawatch (having missed the hoped-for Balearic Shearwater by less than an hour), and various potterings.

The most notable trip out was on 20th July: received a text from Simon Ingram inviting me on a planned drive to Beauworth (wherever that was) that evening for Quail. Seemed like a good idea, so picked Steve P up straight from work and drove to Simon’s, where Ashley Howe was also in on the "twitch".

During the drive out it became increasingly apparent that Simon’s only gen was that the bird had been heard singing "from a barley field near Beauworth"! Which left us driving round anywhere that could be construed as "near" there checking all the barley fields, somewhat handicapped by the fact that without knowing which field we were targetting we weren’t sure how long to wait for the singing bird that may not have been there. Oh and also by the fact that none of us were 100% sure what a barley field actually looked like!! Needless to say we dipped, and I bowled up at home at 1115pm, very hungry having not had any dinner. I might ask one or two more questions beforehand next time!

France was pleasant enough, camping, pootling about, and mostly being lazy, although I did have a couple of walks out from the campsite. That it definitely wasn’t a birding trip is reflected by the "in France" trip list of 51 (including Gannet from the boat). Some OK stuff though. I suppose the pick was Crested Tit, of which a few were heard and one showed well in the campsite. I was especially pleased to ID it first on call despite these being my first records since 1994 at the latest (which is rather shameful). Singing Turtle Doves nearby were also nice, with other records including a Spotted Flycatcher, several Whitethroates and a pleasing number of singing Yellowhammers (but strangely no Skylarks). House Sparrows were everywhere, highlighting the fact that they aren’t in southern England.

The butterfly list was just nine, but including my first Clouded Yellows of the year (quite a few). Painted Ladies were everywhere, with the campsite buddleias dripping with them. Moths attracted to the shower block lights included a Poplar Hawkmoth. (It’s quite possible that there were also some real rarities but I’m not a mothman so couldn’t say).

All very pleasant to potter around somewhere new, with just a subtle difference in the avifauna. A trip further south in France is being mooted for next summer, which will hopefully offer more in the way of variety.

Main priority now is to get out and about a bit more in this country. Autumn migration seems to be under way and I ought to get out and sample some of it soon.

Up stupidly early (alarm at 0345) this morning for a more-hope-than-expectation Quail hunt with Steve P.

Scored at neither site we visited, but plenty of quality to distract us anyway.

The first site (which I can’t unfortunately name) turned up calling Stone Curlew, at least 2 Corn Buntings and loads of Yellowhammers.

From here we headed to Martin Down, where the compensation came in the shape of butterflies. Lots of them. Undoubted star were the Dark Green Fritillaries, of which a bare minimum of 157 were counted. I only have county reports dating back to 99, but perusal of those suggests this was something of a record count. When the fact it wasn’t the hottest part of the day is taken into consideration, with many more seemingly lower down in the long grass, plus our less-than-total coverage, and it is likely the true numbers were MUCH higher. Marbled White and Ringlet were prominent too, with 76+ and c70 respectively (although Meadow Brown was most numerous overall, with several hundred present), with c40 Small Skipper, 6+ Small Heaths and a couple each of Small and Large White. Chimney Sweeper was the most conspicuous moth, but top quality-wise was a single Hummingbird Hawkmoth. Oh, and Turle Dove and Cuckoo were heard, and you can chuck in three species of orchid to that lot as well.

All in all well worth a morning off!

Not many anyway.

On Friday morning whilst walking the daogs in light rain up on the forest was treated to the unusual sight of a displaying Snipe (can’t remember having seen that away from dawn/dusk before), shortly after which one or the same was seen giving the "chip-per" call a few times whilst decending on V-shaped wings. Again I don’t recall having heard that call during the day, and always assumed it was given from a perch. Perhaps the overnight rain and thunderstorms had something to do with it. Later on the same walk a family party of four Woodlarks was nice.

Other than that all I can offer is a party of four Ravens over Bashley CC whilst we (narrowly) beat them, the second narrow victory of a weekend in which I contributed a massive two runs (also a catch and a stumping).

A pretty much birdless week took a surprise turn for the better yesterday with a mid-morning call from Simon Ingram. Within five minutes I’d picked up Steve Piggott, and within an hour of that we were a Titchfield Haven, something I hadn’t expected at the start of the day. A shortish walk to the middle hide (whatever it’s called) and we were treated to cracking views of a breeding plumage male (I think) Red-necked Phalarope. Only my second record of the species in Hampshire, and my first ever in sum plum in Britain. It was actively spinning around and feeding as they do, with only occasional breaks to avoid the attentions of a couple of needlessly grumpy BhGs.

Not a great deal else there, as you’d expect for mid summer, although 23 Avocets, 8 Gadwall and a single Teal were counted.

Had the call come half an hour later I wouldn’t have had time to go due to the afternoon’s cricketing commitments (far more important). Then again, had I known we were going to get another stuffing I might have just stayed out birding. Only consolation was a top-scoring 27 for me. Today had my first shot at wicket keeping since the injury (in a T20 cup match) and did surprisingly well, including a catch. Gonna be sore in the morning though.

This morning I completed a long overdue TTV survey, logging 38 species. Nothing untoward, although it was nice to get a good total of Bullfinches, including a begging juvenile.

An excellent morning session at Martin Down today (with Messrs Piggott and Halligan) rounded off a week with a few interesting records: on Monday singles of Crossbill and Small Tortoiseshell were seen in Sway (only saw one of the latter in the whole of last year); on Tuesday evening a big surprise when a Nightjar was heard churring from my front garden – a welcome addition to the garden list, and presumably just a late migrant or wanderer as it hasn’t repeated the act since; on Thursday added another species to the garden list with a fly-past Little Egret; between those dates, on Wednesday, I was working at Tanners Lane, which was predictably quiet given the date, but singles of Mediterranean Gull and Lesser Whitethroat were heard and a Whimbrel seen.

The main targets at Martin Down were Quail and Turtle Dove, but rather as expected butterflies were a very prominent feature of the day. Sixteen species were logged, in order of abundance: Small Heath, Small Blue, Large Skipper, Speckled Wood, Brimstone, Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Large White, Adonis Blue, Painted Lady, Small White, and singles of Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Green-veined White and Dark Green Fritillary. Also Six-spot Burnets (and Burnet Companion) were much in evidence, plus an array of orchids.

Failed to find any Quail (whether because they aren’t there or because we didn’t get there early enough in the day we don’t know), but with a bit of effort and at least three heard managed to get brief views of a Turtle Dove perched and in flight. Oddest record was of a juvenile Cuckoo that’s was completely lacking a tail and as it flew in had a jizz that made it  look for all the world like a pratincole!! Certainly got the heart racing for a bit! A couple of Cuckoos were also heard, as well as at least 5 Lesser Whitethroats and a Marsh Tit. At least three Corn Buntings were singing, one of which gave outstanding views.

Will have to try again for Quail, but I have no complaints if it means another visit to this fabulous area.

The only butterfly seen in Wootton Coppice Inclosure during this afternoon’s dog walk was a single Large Skipper.

And lastly, we got thrashed at cricket yesterday, which was no fun and hopefully won’t be repeated too soon.

Not much to report again this week.

Birding highlight I guess was the multiple sightings of Hobby whilst playing cricket (unfortunately I can’t blame any of the noisy fly-bys for my failure to trouble the scorers this week). Some really close hunting birds, and a very comfortable win, so a good afternoon.

This afternoon a walk with the dogs produced even more Lesser Butterfly Orchids in bloom than last week, and 3 Crossbills were seen in flight, as well as the more expected Stonechat, Linnet, etc. I thought I heard a Green Sandpiper call, but given the fact that I was in heathland and even that notoriously early mover has barely started coming through I think it’ll have to go down as a probable/possible with just one call heard.

And that’s pretty much it other than a couple of inland Mediterranean Gull sightings early in the week, including a pair over Sway, my third record for the village. Even the Painted Ladies have slowed to a trickle.

Sunday again, and once again work has been way too prominent.

Painted Ladies have continued in excellent numbers, still with many passing straight through as well as lingering in gardens. Common Blue was added to the year list yesterday, whilst cricketing in Southampton, and also seen in the New Forest this afternoon. I know little about moths, but one I do know is Nemophora degeerella, the one with the longest antennae in Britain, which I have previously only seen deep in woods, so I was very surprised to find one on my car window one morning this week (a mayfly was in the same spot on another morning). Common Heath were just that this afternoon. Also, this morning I saw my first Stag Beetle of the year.

The only birding as such was a couple of hours spent at the raptor watchpoint at Acres Down this morning. Unfortunately Honey Buzzard failed to show but Goshawks were rarely out of view, providing some excellent views as they harrassed Jackdaws and pigeons and generally showed off. Also whilst there a female-type Crossbill flew through, and Tree Pipit, Redstart and Whitethroat were heard singing.

On a completely different natural vein this afternoon’s dog walk was taken where I knew I would find Lesser Butterfly Orchids, and several of this rarity were in flower. Unfortunately my orchid knowledge is even worse than that of moths, and I should do something to rectify the matter on both counts.

Lastly, cricket of course. Finally we got our first win yesterday, a very comfortable nine-wicket victory having bowled the opposition out for 78. Especially pleasing for me, with 36 not out, including an array of shots I don’t think I’ve ever used before. Long may it continue.