gryllosblog   Gryllo's (aka Ian Lewis') blog. All things to do with travel, wildlife especially birds, history, architecture and anything else that interests me.

On Saturday a group of us tried ringing at Durlston. I say tried because it took two hours before the number of birds ringed exceeded the number of ringers present. However, we did have two gems, a control Chiffchaff (ie one that had been previously ringed elsewhere) and a Grasshopper Warbler, one of the very few I have seen in the hand in the spring. It was a cold and breezy morning and we couldn’t help feeling that summer has already been and gone!

Grasshopper Warbler. In most years I only hear their insect like buzz in the spring and have to wait until autumn ringing sessions to actually see one.

On Sunday Margaret and I birded a few sites in the New Forest, I was hoping for a few spring migrants like Redstart or perhaps even a Cuckoo, but all we managed was a few Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps and a single Willow Warbler. Of course what I really wanted to see was the bird that is fast becoming my nemesis, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I went to three sites where they have been seen, Cadman’s Pool (where I have heard them drumming), Bolderwood and Anderwood. Best birds were a pair of Marsh Tits at Cadman’s Pool plus a Firecrest and a pair of Hawfinches at Bolderwood. Again it was a grey and rather cold day, but there were lots of cyclists on the trails and the Bolderwood car park was full to overflowing.

Distant Fallow Deer near Bolderwood.

Although Hampshire is under a drought restriction, i.e. a hosepipe ban, the New Forest streams seem to be at a healthy level.