Thursday, 9 May 2019

Itchen Abbas, 5 May 2019

I visited a small reedbed along the Itchen to the east of Itchen Abbas. From one spot I could hear eight different warbler species singing:
Blackcap
Whitethroat
Chiffchaff
Reed Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Cetti's Warbler
Garden Warbler,
Willow Warbler

A small pulse of Swallow and House Martins included a couple of Swifts, and a Cuckoo was also singing.

There were many Water Avens along the footpath:


Another warbler was added a mile or so to the north where Lesser Whitethroat was singing from a dense hedge high on the chalk.

At Alresford pond, a Hobby was hawking insects. A cuckoo was perched on the edge of the reed-bed, occasionally dropping down. It was not clear whether this was a female looking to lay in a Reed Warbler nest, or a feeding bird.

This Red-legged Partridge was perched on the top of a hedge: