Barry Stalker - Birding Basingstoke & Deane

Great-tailed Grackle showed ridiculously well at Holbury, late morning. A bird I’d hitherto not bothered to twitch, but as I was sort of passing on the way back from Ripley Reservoir, I thought why not. A little too confiding for comfort, but seems to be thriving.

@LewisStuff @01000011S Just driven up through France - six hours with zero roadworks. No litter out there either. Get back here, M27 down to one lane, M3 slip road shut, M271 completely closed, eventually joined M3, down to one lane north of Winchester & flashing lights warning of a stretch of M4 shut!

@01000011S Yep, amazing place - great habitat, no rubbish, didn't see a traffic cone or a load of clowns doing 'roadworks' in four days!

Scarce Copper (male and female) and Lesser Marbled Fritillary were great to see in some great roadside habitats east of Gothenburg:

Late to the party as usual, but managed to slip away from the metropolis of birding that is Basingstoke and Deane, for Hampshire’s first Hudsonian Godwit, which gave great views at a surprisingly gloomy Titchfield Haven this morning. Superb find by @MarkFra64259515

Juvenile White-tailed Eagle, south of Kingsclere this morning. I literally had to throw the car into a hedge and jump out to obtain these images, before it disappeared over the tree line towards Overton. Becoming annual for me! 😂

Unexpected Barn Owl during a grim WeBS at Overton first thing this morning - incredibly an additional three others seem during the morning, including two hunting together at Overton Hill. Also, this Great White Egret, keeping to the footpath at Lower Ashe Farm.

@CliveMcKay1 Hello Clive, sure no problem.

Superb pics of "stiff-winged" displaying Goshawks. It's that time of year.

More crap images, though to be fair they were taken straight into the sun and at distance. Marsh Harrier is a good borough bird though - this one being mobbed near Brown Candover this morning; one of the Alresford Pond birds presumably.

The RSPB is celebrating 40 years of Eurasian Stone-curlew conservation, with numbers of the wader having doubled in Britain during that timeframe: bit.ly/4h7rzSF

Snatched images of local displaying Goshawk this morning. Always one of the highlights of spring, especially locally, which is otherwise dead!

A little too distant & misty for the camera, but excellent ‘scope views of Hampshire’s first Black-throated Thrush at Lindford this morning, which now seems to have picked up a tick on its right eye. Thanks to @UKTwitcher & @LewisStuff for arranging access & marshalling.

Grey Partridge in north Hampshire this morning. Four seen in an hour or so, but not my regular site for GP (where they’re not released), so need to investigate the provenance of this population.

At least one Brambling, but probably more, in a large mixed flock at Pyotts Hill, Old Basing, this morning, comprising mostly of Linnet, but also good numbers of Chaffinch and Y’hammer plus a few Reed Bunting & even one or two Greenfinch; probably 300 plus birds.

Hawfinch in grim light at The Mill Field LNR, Old Basing, mid-afternoon today; my first in the borough for four years. Not my favourite site it has to be said, as there’s too many dogs running loose for my liking, but glad I dropped in for an hour today.

@LewisStuff Stunning!

Red-bellied Pitta types! Sulawesi (Sulawesi!) Pitta (near Manado), Philippine (Talaud) Pitta on Talaud and Sulawesi (Sangihe) Pitta on Sangihe. Confusing - and ever changing - taxonomy but each one a cracker!

@kokayart Retweeted

Lapland Bunting at Staines Reservoir this afternoon. I have t been there in ages, so great to visit my old stomping ground again.

@SteveReedMP I don’t normally do politics on here, but that makes absolutely zero sense.

Ask people what makes them most proud to be British and our beautiful countryside is right up there. This new Labour government will put nature recovery at the heart of our plans to build 1.5 million new homes. thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

@tonylowry123 @lesbashford The Long Man of Wilmington…

@lesbashford I was out last night and not sure you needed one of those, contleat waste of time to bright

They must of been in a rush last night.

Book review: The Norfolk Plover: a study of the Stone-curlew by Chris Knights with a foreword by @themarshtit britishbirds.co.uk/journal/articl…

Sardinian Warbler and Eastern Subalpine Warbler in the garden of the house we rented in Sicily recently, plus Cory’s Shearwater off Taormina. I’m on first-name terms with most of the birds around Basingstoke, so good to see something different!