UPDATE

UPDATE 30.3.10

After experiencing torrential non-stop rain for a week in Costa Rica, followed by a holiday in Lake Garda over Christmas which was the coldest week for 26 years and the heaviest snow since the last ice-age, and then a holiday in February in Morocco, which turned out to be the wettest week for 30 years (Gibraltar had the wettest week ever) I am now experiencing what must be the most miserable grey winter and spring since the Great Plague.

Here is a picture of the famous Spotted Redshank from Nore Barn, Emsworth. I was with Brian Fellows, Caroline French and others, when it was first seen 5 years ago, and now it must be the most photographed of this rare species in the world (the normal Redshank is a far commoner species). This is because it returns to the same spot every year, and for some reason, is very tame, ignoring people, photographers and countless dogs, who sometimes get within a few feet of it.

Each spring, around about 20th of March it heads off to its breeding grounds somewhere in the Arctic Circle, but then will return to us in October, back as a welcome friend. See also on YouTube - Click Here.

UPDATE 10.2.10

A holiday to Morocco in early March. This was to Agadir, the main tourist resort and known as 'the city that never rains'. Dry, arid, beautiful sunshine guaranteed for 320 days a year. Needless to say, it rained and then it poured, and then it rained some more, the most for 30 years, and 3,000 were made homeless. Nearby Gibraltar had the most rain ever!

 

It was however, a wonderful holiday. the Moroccans polite, courteous, lovely smiles, and guaranteeing a 'good price'. Towns such as Taroudant were a revelation, a throwback of hundreds of years. An 8 kilometer castellated wall was home to 300 Swifts, screaming low over our heads, and a population, largely of Berber Moroccans, the original inhabitants before the Arabs, proudly holding on to their traditional costumes and customs. Just this month, the nation is starting to compulsory teach the school children the language, and also the first Berber Television channel started in March. With a population of 130,000, we saw just 2 inhabitants using a mobile phone, during the inevitable stroll through the souk.

A trip to the Massa Nature Reserve was good for the scenic beauty but bad for the birds. We did glimpse 3 Glossy Ibis at the estuary but will need to call again with a guide. Spring or autumn migration in Morocco would be stunning here. However, the souks, populace, climate, friends, beaches, food, wildlife, all jostle for second place, for the trip was worth it alone, to see the tree climbing goats of Morocco, unique to this country. See - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luoPih0qpOc

A trip to the scenic Lake Garda over Christmas was every bit as enjoyable, and unfortunately, is yet another place that I wish to visit again. I am going to be busy for the next 60 years. This too has an enviable climate, mild in winter. I need hardly say - the day we arrived was the coldest in 26 years. The majestic Verona, perhaps the most beautiful of all cities, was minus 7. Then we had the most snow for 26 years. Whereas in England, the kids would rush out to play, the dogs would be yapping in sheer joy, cameras would be commonplace, here in Italy, everyone stayed in, the roads and pathways remained stubbornly unsalted, the Italians shut their doors to this unwelcome presence. Here is another town slightly further east.

 

But, the food, people, friends, and scenery made it another memorable holiday. Photos on the website.

 

UPDATE SPRING 2010 - 26.1.10

So, another year of grey skies has passed here at Sunny Hayling Island. A cold winter in 2009 which had a grave effect on certain heathland birds, notably the Dartford Warblers, which tend not to move to warmer areas like other species of birds. January 2010 saw heavy snow in Hampshire lasting a week, and this has added to the declining numbers. This area, Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey is the most important in Europe for heathlands.

The snow brought unusual birds to Hayling Island, including hundreds, maybe thousands of Redwings and Fieldfares, 60 of which visited our communal garden for 8 days. We threw out chopped up pears, bags and bags of them. Skylarks were seen on the beach, and small birds were seen to fly out to sea, where they will simply perish. It seems birds kept going south until there was no more. The entire UK was covered in snow. Fortunately, the weather forecasts were wrong, and despite warnings of more snow, there was a major thaw in the nick of time. It is now several years since we experienced any lengthy period of sunshine.

UPDATE - AUTUMN 2009 COSTA RICA

Costa Rica is one of the world's great hotspots for wildlife. A small country, in central America, the only nation without an army, friendly, always smiling natives,
and it is also renowned for its coffee. Stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and has just 2 seasons. The 8-month wet season, and the 4-month dry season. We went during the change-over period, but unfortunately, the first week was continuous torrential rain. Not much pleasure in putting on wet clothing and going out in open boats in the rainforests. The second week, towards and at the Pacific was glorious sunshine.

Wildlife is everywhere to be seen, monkeys, raccoons, iguanas were commonplace, and pretty tame. We had a good guide and excellent hotels, but the local wildlife guide was more interested in the bars and swimming pools so I had to find my own parrots, macaws, frigate birds and pelicans, birds he cold easily have shown us. In view of the weather and the wildlife guide, the pictures could have been even better, and there is great scope here for photographers.

All in all, a good holiday, but not great for varied reasons, am pleased with the pictures but will need to call again one day.

UPDATE - SPRING 2009 - 15.2.09

A cold wet summer, was followed by a cold wet autumn, followed by a very cold winter. Normally here on the seafront at sunny Hayling Island, we do not experience ice and frost, but for 4 weeks, it was constant. 2 stunning birds visited us, a Snow Bunting in November followed by a Waxwing in December.

There was a flock of 30 Waxwings, flitting around Hampshire throughout the winter, splitting up and reforming. We had no native berries left, these were all consumed in November, so birds such as Waxwings and Fieldfares, had to make do with introduced species, such as Cotoneasters.

 

 

SUMMER 2008 - 14TH AUGUST 2008

We have had a sensational spring and summer, with exotic birds such as Black-winged Stilts, Storks, Bee-eaters, Glossy Ibis and sightings of Eagles. Once again, a very wet summer, and 2008 is turning out to be a bad year for butterflies, probably due to the wet summer last year. The Little Tern colony at the Hayling Oysterbeds, was going well, until all of the chicks were predated by a male Kestrel and Black-headed Gulls in a couple of days - yet another disastrous year for them.

 

UPDATE - SPRING 2008 - 19TH APRIL

Global warming has taken a backseat this winter, insomuch we in Hampshire had average temperatures and even a little snow. The flora and wildlife for once, is sticking to its correct timetable. All of this is reflected throughout the world. Is this change in rising temperatures, or more likely, just a pause?

 

UPDATE - WINTER 2007/8 - 19TH DECEMBER

An unusual wild bird has settled in Hampshire for 4 weeks now - a White-tailed Eagle, better known as a Sea Eagle, the species re-introduced successfully into the Isle of Mull and spreading out to other locations on the western seaboard of the northern Highlands of Scotland. They are now being re-introduced on the eastern side.

Our Eagle is a juvenile, It has no 'jesses', it is not an escape, and from its rings, is believed to be from northern Finland. It is assumed, it was blown across here, became lost, and has strangely found its way inland, to a rural part of north Hampshire, near a village Shipton Bellinger. This is a very quiet, under-reported part of the county, on the Wiltshire border. Speaking to a local birder, she told me she had never seen another birdwatcher in the area, before November this year! The Eagle may sometimes be seen feeding from a distance on a field at the Cholderton Estate - probably the largest organic farm in Hampshire at nearly 3,000 acres. I was grateful to Rory Edmunds for offering me opportunities to photograph this unexpected guest.

Strangely, this has not become a major 'twitch'. Maybe this is because it cannot be relied upon. It may be seen, it may not - but it is a spectacular sight. Continually being mobbed by Ravens and Buzzards, who look tiny in comparison, the bird can be seen by the naked eye from a distance of 3 miles. Today, it remains here, it may move elsewhere tomorrow or it may remain for years, our very own Hampshire Sea Eagle.

 

UPDATE - AUTUMN 2007 - 25TH OCTOBER

Our wettest ever summer, was followed by a sunny autumn. Result - best year for fruits, berries and nuts. The rain fattened, the sun ripened. This should result in less garden birds this winter, there is plenty of food in the wild, and many birds may not need to migrate to us in the south.

Chris Cockburn is our Hampshire RSPB warden and has supplied us with this extensive report on the success, or in the case of this year, rather unsuccessful, of breeding gulls for 2007 in Langstone Harbour, one of the most important sites in the country. If you look out towards the harbour, and glimpse a distant figure in a small dinghy being thrown about in the sea, that will be Chris, monitoring the birds, warning off anyone approaching too close to the islands. The report makes fascinating reading, illustrating that the more we come to understand the variables of ecology, the more problems arise. What makes suitable habitat for one species, is detrimental to another. Factors such as food supply, climate, tides, storms, vegetation, disturbance, predation by other gulls and a fox, all add to a complicated equation. It also discloses the devastating effect that a single pair of Peregrines can inflict on thousands of gulls, and maybe, this year, they never recovered.

We all like to see Peregrines Falcons, the fastest living anything on the planet, and now they are so protected they are thriving, always adaptable to new environments. However, their mere presence around the islands, prevented nesting until the1st of May. Thanks to Chris writing the following Word document exclusively for this site. To see the full report - click here.

 

UPDATE - SUMMER 2007 - 1ST AUGUST 2007

This time last year, we were reporting the continuing 2-year drought. Here on Sunny Hayling Island, we have escaped all of the floods, the worst ever recorded in the UK. Hayling drains very well, especially the sandy areas, and it would seem our main problem concerns sea water defences being breached, particularly on the south-eastern shoreline. We have suffered a grievous lack of sunshine thus far this summer, whilst southern Europe continues to experience the hottest summer on record.

Jason Crooks was the warden again this year at the Hayling Oysterbeds, where, the breeding season of the Little Terns suffered another disastrous year - see http://www.natureandpictures.co.uk/littleternsandthehaylingoysterbeds.htm for full report (scroll down). There will be a full report of all the birds in the vicinity in the autumn report.