Blashford Lakes is a Hampshire Wildlife Trust reserve and over the last two years has undergone a major face lift, already an excellent reserve, but access until recently was difficult. Mainly used by the trust as an education centre to encourage people young and old to take an interest in wildlife.

We've watched the area since we moved to Fordingbridge and now access has improved it has made visiting much easier and has improved the number of species being recorded. This is an excellent winter location with the number of wintering duck and finches as the main attraction.

All photographs on this page are © Nick Hull and TwOOwls Birding unless otherwise stated

---

August 21st
A quick visit late afternoon today and very little change since my last visit but I did have a little luck at the Ivy South Hide when a adult male Kingfisher came and perched and fished from the dead branches just left of the hide.

August 18th
It was nice to get down and have a look around the reserve at last, starting in the Tern hide I counted 80 Great Crested Grebe on Ibsley Water but with birds on Rockford and Ivy lakes brought numbers up to around a 100 birds and I'm sure one or two were missed. The Coot numbers look as if they are also increasing though I didn't make a count of them today. A Common Sandpiper was picked up by Jackie as it flew across Ibsley on to one of the islands and there were 15 Sand Martins and a least 6 Common Tern feeding over the water. Rockford lake produced a small group of tufted Duck and 3 Egyptian Geese, but Ivy lake tipped the balance today with a Green Sandpiper seen flying off towards Rockford, Kingfisher by the south hide and the Great White Egret which has returned for another winter, seen for the first time this Autumn on Ivy lake on the 16th August.

June 7th
Jackie and I took my moths traps down to Blashford to help out on the National Moth Night event being held there. After introduction by Bob Chapman the Reserves Manager, we completed setting up the traps and walked the trail to each, so everyone could familiarise themselves with the route so once it was dark it reduced the risk of loseing anyone. Whilst we waited for the darkness to arrive we looked through the previous night moths which had remained in the trap, and then we walked the reserve path to the Ivy south hide to see if we could find any bats that decided to start hunting early. We weren't disappointed and very quickly picked up several Pipistrelle's flying along the length of the path, and later we had Serotine and Noctule Bats cruising the edge of the woodland.

Though the evening wasn't the best for mothing in that it was a clear and cool night, we did have some success, I've included a few photo's here of some of the species seen.

Top left to right - Blood-vein, Buff Ermine, Burnished Brass, Common Marbled Carpet.
Middle left to right - Garden Pebble, Foxglove Pug, Small Seraphim, May Highflyer.
Bottom left to right - Scorched-wing, Heart and Dart, Pebble Hook-tip and a Elephant Hawkmoth.

May 23rd
We've had very little time to get to Blashford of late, managed to pop in and catch up with the Black Terns last Thursday. So with an hour to spare we took advantage and had a look around this morning, and noticed quite a few changes. Lots of damselflies - Large Red, Azure and Common Blues and Four-spot, Broad-bodied Chasers and one or two Emperor Dragonflies zooming around the ponds. The woodland hide was quiet just a Bank Vole cleaning up the fallen seed. The rafts on Ivy Lake now have a number of Common Terns in residence but other than the pair of Great Crested Grebe it was quiet here too.

From the Tern hide on Ibsley water a number of the resident waders were putting on a show and at long last I managed a reasonable shot of the Lapwing, unfortunately I couldn't get the depth of field to get the Little Ringed Plover sharp as well.

 

May 11th
Well Blashford Lakes had a rather good visitor yesterday, Jackie and I were extremely lucky, we had a dawn chorus visit to Acres Down first thing in the morning with a excellent breakfast after at the small cafe there. So set up for the day we decided to go on the Blashford to catch up on all that has been happening over the previous week whilst we were in France. We were just chatting to a friend outside of the tern hide when Bob arrived and announced that a Black-winged Stilt had been reported on the shore near to the gravel spit seen from the Lapwing hide. So we were in the tern hide scanning the shoreline in double quick time, well after half an hour and still no sign of it appearing from behind the spit Jackie and I decided to move to the Lapwing hide as quick as we could taking the gamble that it wouldn't fly and we'd miss it. Well we needn't have worried on our arrival at the Lapwing hide a few birders were already there watching and put us onto the bird and what a cracking bird it was, unfortunately far to far away to even get a memory shot with the camera but we had great scope views.

I've added here just a couple of photographs one of a white Fallow buck which Jackie and I saw near Bolder Wood on our way to Blashford and a Greenshank which was photographed in front of the Tern Hide last week by Martin Bennett which I think you will agree is a cracking shot.

Greenshank photograph at Ibsley Water © Martin Bennett and White Fallow Buck at Bolder Wood © Nick Hull

April 23rd
This morning I spent four hours walking around the reserve. Scanning over Ibsley Water from the Tern hide produced much the same as yesterday though 2 adult Little Gulls and a 1st winter/summer bird which wasn't around yesterday showing some passage of the species is still continuing and 6 Common Tern patrolled over the water. A nice surprise was a nice male White Wagtail out front of the hide accompanied by 2 male and a female Pied Wagtails which gave great opportunity to compare features. Around the visitor centre and the Woodland Hide there was much commotion from four Jays, well 2 pairs which seemed to be locked in a territorial dispute, the feeding station held few birds this morning no Brambling or Redpoll seen or heard and just a handful of siskin and tits were coming into the feeders. Photograph oppertunities were limited but managed a couple of reasonable shots of a Great Crested Grebe on Ivy Lake and a Song Thrush, also a female Orange Tip along the back path along by the water skiing lake.

April 22nd
We had a group visit to Blashford today, though it started cool and rather overcast it soon brightened and became quite warm. We started in the Tern Hide and we weren't disappointed, there were four Common Terns flying to and fro over the lake and the Little Ringed Plover a female on the gravel spit and a male just a few metres away right of the hide. Scanning the lake there was the usual complement of Tufted Duck, Coot, Great Crested and Little Grebes, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed, Herring and Black-headed Gulls, Cormorants resting on the islands and Lapwing, Greylag and Canada Geese at various locations around the perimeter of the lake. Oystercatcher and Redshank were also seen but very distant. The star birds of the day certainly for me as they are my favourite gull species were two Little Gull which must have just arrived as they were not there one minute and there the next. They were two fine adults in full summer plumage the black underwing contrasting with the pale grey upperparts as they moved across the water dip feeding from the waters surface.

Around the rest of the reserve Chiffchaff and Blackcaps were much in evidence, Brambling, Chaffinch's, Siskin's and the odd Lesser Redpoll were visiting the feeders. We were also in nest site finding mode today at we came across nesting Treecreeper, Long-tailed Tit, Little Grebe and Coot to add to the Mistle Thrush found on our previous visit. We also heard our first Cuckoo of the year which was calling from the direction of Mockbeggar Lake.

Above a couple of shots of the Long tailed Tits which seems to be attempting to build in a fork of this tree, which I think is an unusual location to choose. It maybe that they are first time builders but time will tell.

The photograph to the right is a Common Dog Violet which are now gracing the edges of the paths in the woodland.

 

 

April 17th
Unable to visit for the last few days we managed a couple of hours this afternoon and found that the large siskin flock had now moved on with the Lesser Redpolls and Brambling, though one or two of the latter remained at the woodland hide feeding station. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker's are still active in the area around the woodland hide. Jackie and I managed at long last to see the female chipping away at the bark of a tree stump in search of a tasty snack, unfortunately I never had enough time to set up the camera before she moved off so no photograph as yet.

We recorded our first Common Terns of the year with two birds fishing over Ibsley Lake along with a few Black-headed Gulls. A distant view of a Common Sandpiper from the lapwing hide, with it's characteristic bobbing action giving it away, moved along the edge of the gravel spit. There appears to be two pairs of Redshank present now. A handful of winter duck remain but I'm sure they will be off very soon and to just leave the few Tufted, Mallard and Gadwall that summer with us.

What was very noticeable today was the blanket of Ground Ivy perhaps a little overlook and maligned flower, but close up I think you will agree has almost the charm of an orchid.

April 6th
The Snow made the forest woods look very picturesque this morning the avenue through Raven Nest Enclosure looked very much like Christmas should look rather than April.
Our visit to Blashford Lakes turned out to be fruitful, a female Great Spotted Woodpecker put on a nice show from the Woodland Hide this morning along with Jays, Bramblings, Siskins and a handful of Lesser Redpolls, but no sign of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but I'll keep trying I'm sure to get lucky at sometime.

I was also lucky enough this time to photograph the Little Ringed Plover which paraded outside the Tern Hide and gave stunning views. It was so close that you could see the faint barring on the tertial feathers. An Osprey also gave us a great show but just too far away to get any photos.

March 30th
Our visit today was to try and photograph the Little Ringed Plover that frequent the shingle area that you can view from the Tern hide but unfortunately they were too far away but they did give good scope views. What has become very obvious over the last few weeks is the number of the wintering duck have decreased dramaticailly even the coot number have reduced. Returning birds such as Oystercatcher 2 pairs, Redshank 1-2 pairs were good to see, several Chiffchaff can now also be heard singing on the reserve.The Black-headed Gull appear to be increasing and a good number seem to be setting up a small colony on one of the Islands in Ibsley water, also at least one pair of Greylag Geese have already commenced nesting. Several pairs of Lapwing can now be seen displaying around the fringes of the lakes and Great Crested and Little Grebes are getting more and more territorial.

Though I didn't manage to photograph the LRP I did get a few shots of one of the returning Redshanks which was feeding along the shore in front of the Tern hide.

March 27th
Our visit to Blashford this morning proved productive as usual, we started off in the Tern hide and had nice views of Goldeneye, Tufted, Shoveler, Wigeon and the few remaining Pochard though there has been a large drop in numbers over the last few weeks and many of the wintering wildfowl have started to move towards the northern breeding areas even the coot numbers have decreased significantly and Ibsley Water looks quite empty compared with a few weeks ago.

The large numbers of Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipits that have been around in the last few days, have moved on and just a handful remain searching for insects along the edge of the lake. For me the highlight this morning was a nice male Northern Wheatear my first sighting of the year, also the Coltsfoot is in full bloom and putting on a great show on either side of the path as you walk to the Lapwing Hide. This small daisy like flower is a little different as the plant produces its leaves after the plant has flowered.

At least one pair of Redshank and two pairs of Oystercatchers were present this morning seen from the Lapwing hide as were a number of Lapwings and just a few summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwit could be found out on one of the islands.

Around the Centre and the Woodland hide there has been a great deal of activity with large numbers of Siskin and Brambling with smaller numbers of Lesser Redpoll. Recently it has become possible to see all three species of Woodpecker on the reserve, with the arrival of a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers which are occassionally seen and heard from the Woodland hide.

The Photographs below are Scarlet Elf Cup a fungus which can be found on much of the dead wood along the path to the woodland hide and one of the Lesser Redpoll that's been coming into the niger feeders.