Sopley & Blashford Lakes - Sun 2 Mar

A trip to Sopley, just north of Christchurch today, and I was hoping to locate the drake Green-winged Teal that had recently been seen in the area. Trips before and after lunch produced the same result, and that was a negative! That being said amongst the thousands of birds on the flooded River Avon I did see a pair of Goosander, somewhat unusual considering the area is usually farmland! A real surprise was a drake Ringed Teal, which I doubt made its way to the Dorset/Hampshire border from South America unaided! I wouldn't hazard a guess at the number of Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing present, but it must have numbered around a thousand.
After lunch I made another flying visit, this time seeing a couple of Ruff and a brute of a Raven having a go at a rabbit which a Buzzard had caught and abandoned.

A couple of partridge also flew over the road but moved so quick I couldn't determine the species. A small flock of Pintail joined the mass of Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler.
I then moved on to Blashford Lakes and with limited time spent about twenty minutes in Tern Hide over looking Ibsley Water. A drake Goosander flew over whilst on the water at least half a dozen Goldeneye were present. A single Egyptian Goose was on the water's edge amongst a flock of grazing Wigeon.