Cameron Bespolka's birding blog: November 2013

I started off with a brief but sweet visit to Kingfisher lake ( near Blashford Lakes). Arriving I walked to a small gap in the hedge row and searched through the fence so not the best view, but no luck! While waiting in the surrounding woodland a Nuthatch called, a Treecreeper was busily hunting, I got a brief view of a Jay, and Chaffinches were calling all around me. In the actual lake there was; plenty of Wigeon, a few Tufted Duck, several Mute Swans, Gadwall, Black-Headed Gulls and Coots. While trudging back to the car park I scanned through a very small gap through the trees, the view was obscured by branches and the fence, but I managed to get a decent but short view of a Fudge Duck, my target bird. It showed quite well roosting with some Tufted Ducks before being scared off by a Black-headed Gull,
Next was a quick stop at Slufters Inclosure ( New Forest ) where I was looking for the previously reported Parrot Crossbills. Sadly it was very quiet here, with not much at all of interest. Not even a single Common Crossbill!
Abandoning the New Forest I headed towards Farlington Marshes, despite being low tide there was a lot on offer. Highlight was White-Fronted Goose a nice county lifer. There was a lot of common waders about, Dunlin were in high numbers, plenty of Brent Geese, a few Grey Plovers, two ringed Black-Tailed Godwhits, a Spotted Redshank, one Goldeneye was also present.
After, a quick pop down to pathc to see if anything was present, sadly it was quiet except for two Stonechat. All in all a great birding day!