February 2008

Moving on and into February, after a break without much going on, it was nice to see sika deer at Broughton Down on a very bleak day (10/2/08). Then, on the 18th it was back to Keyhaven. There were the usual ducks and another long list of waders including a massive flock of golden plover and more grey plovers, as well as a flock of snipe. The next surprise was two more water rail which was incredible bringing my water rail total for this year to 4 which is amazing! Yet this was not the highlight of the day, because while we were walking along the sea front by the gorse, I spotted a Dartford warbler hopping around. I had always wanted to see this rare and endangered bird and to see it out in the open, a mere 3 metres away, was the best thing so far this year.
On the 20th I saw a blackcap (the only one I’ve seen in Winterslow this year) opposite the school and I also noticed that as well as the daffodils, snowdrops and primroses, the lesser celandines are starting to come up. On the 23rd we took the ferry across to the Isle of Wight for a day trip and saw a kingfisher and barnacle geese at Hersey though unfortunately we didn’t see the water rail again.