Workmans Lane, Warsash

Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopus major

Sunday 18 August

Good weather promised for the morning so with Richard Osman back down to Workmans Lane at the Hook end of Warsash. A single Magpie in the field behind the houses then nothing until almost at the entrance to the horse fields.  Having stopped to check both sides of the road and finding a Carrion Crow in the horse fields but nothing in the field on the opposite side, I heard a quiet tapping sound behind me and turned to find  Great Spotted Woodpecker having a good feed on insects found on a telegraph pole.  (Probably need to replace that pole sooner rather than later!)

Moving along the track at the bottom of the horse filed it was immediately obvious that the herd of horses being held in a small pen at the far end had been released and were now spread over the whole field so, possibly, less chance of finding the desired Yellow Wagtails. This certainly proved to be true once we reached the donkey paddock with not a single wagtail of any sort recorded.  But lots of findings in the donkey paddock.  First a couple of Stonechats then a couple of Whitethroat feeding on the blackberries behind the donkey stable.  Then having found a least four Stonechat our first Whinchat and, at the far right-hand end, a Wheatear.  A juvenile male Blackbird came to feed along with a young Greenfinch.

Whinchat Saxicola rubetra

Checking the main field once again and finding no sign of a wagtail, we checked the corvids and recorded a minimum thirty Rooks along with a similar number of Jackdaw and almost as many Carrion Crows.  Even a pair of feeding Magpies.

Rook Corvus frugilegus

As we made on round the field to the stile at the far end we finally managed to find a single Pied Wagtail and also recorded a few Linnets along with another Whitethroat and a flock of at least sixty Starlings.

Whitethroat Sylvia communis

Taking Hook Lane then a walk through the woods to gain access to the path across the common, we first encountered Goldfinches then Greenfinches before stopping to admire the ever-calling Buzzard resting in an old tree.

Buzzard Buteo buteo

Once back at the car to deposit the scope, we then took an anti-clockwise circuit along the back of the common and down to the main road before returning to the car for our home ward drive.  The Buzzard was still calling and above us we could see its circling mate.  A Chiffchaff as we passed through the woods and then, in the garden of the last house, we watched as a Buzzard (maybe the previous one seen above us) drop down on to the grass at the far side to take an interest in whatever was on the ground. In the tree above a Collared Dove took absolutely no notice.  Finally, walking back along the road, we noted a juvenile Herring Gull resting on a chimney and then an adult flew past to join another three houses along before both returned in the same direction passing the juvenile without showing any interest. Strange or interesting?

Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto

Birds seen:

Canada Goose, Buzzard, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Barn Swallow, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Whinchat, Stonechat, Wheatear, Blackbird, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet.

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