The Deskbound Birder: Adder

Showing posts with label Adder. Show all posts

Monday, 26 March 2018

Pennington Marsh - 23rd March

With a couple of hours to spare after dropping Tobias at school I had a wander around Pennington Marsh taking in Jetty, Butts, Fishtail and Keyhaven Lagoons. It was a bright spring like day but with a strong NW wind it was deceptively cold. Numbers of wader and wildfowl had shown a noticeable and decrease since my last visit with numbers of species such as Wigeon, Pintail and Black-tailed Godwit now into the low hundreds while I only saw 12 Pintail and no more than 50 Golden Plover. The Red-necked Grebe off the seawall is now entering summer plumage but there was no sign of the Slavonian Grebe that have wintered here. There were six Great-crested Grebe and ten Eider off shore but little else. On Jetty Lagoon there was a single Spotted Redshank still in winter plumage and two adult and a juvenile Spoonbill. As I walked along the seawall I flushed my first Wheatear of the season but only managed to obtain an arse-end view as it flew east and out of sight. At the point beside Butts Lagoon the semi-resident pair of Peregrine which seem to spend much time sitting on the shingle bar were harassing the waders. On the mudflats were around 150 Knot, 500 Dunlin and 75 Bar-tailed Godwit while a flock of around 200 Brent Goose fed in the saltmarsh on the rising tide. Keyhaven Lagoon was fairly devoid of birds but for around 40 Shelduck and two Avocet. Turning inland two Bearded Reedling were showing well in the reedbed in Butts Lagoon where they bred last year and two Chiffchaff sung from the old dump. Two Adder showed well on the south facing embankment adjacent to Butts Lagoon and there was a single crisp male along the Ancient Highway.

Bearded Reedling - Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Peregrine - Off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Brent Goose - Off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Mistle Thrush - The Old Dump, Pennington Marsh

Adder - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Spoonbill (adult left and juvenile) - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Spoonbill (juvenile) - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Peregrine - Over Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Brent Goose - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Brent Goose, this is one of the few juveniles that I have seen this winter, they seemed to have had a poor breeding season in 2017 - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Coot - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Pennington Marsh and Acres Down - 25th and 29th March

The Easter weekend was fully booked with family social events and a weekend of excessive alcohol intake was on the horizon. But on Friday 25th March before joining Sarah and Tobias at our cottage in Cowley I spent the morning at Pennington Marsh and Acres Down. The morning was a beautiful sunny spring like one and I hoped to see a few summer migrants. Three Chiffchaff half-heartedly sang around the car park when I arrived and so my hopes were high. I started at Efford Lagoon where there were at least 8 Mediterranean Gull, 120 Herring Gull, 20 Great Black-backed Gull and 20 Lesser Black-backed Gull. I wandered southwards scanning Fishtail Lagoon where 12 Snipe and 3 Spotted Redshank were the highlights. I wandered to Keyhaven Lagoon where there were 3 Spoonbill and 2 more Spotted Redshank. The Long-tailed Duck was off Butts Lagoon with 6 Red-breasted Merganser and I watched the latter displaying to one another while the Long-tailed Duck bobbed around keeping his distance from the shenanigans. As the numbers of joggers and dog walkers increased I began to retreat scanning the marshes off Lower Pennington Lane where 75 Golden Plover and 5 Ruff were present along with around 150 Wigeon and Teal but only 9 Pintail - numbers of wildfowl are definitely on the rapid decline now. Not a Wheatear or hirundine to be seen.

I headed off to Acres Down but my time was running short and by the time I had navigated the traffic in Lyndhurst I only had an hour. The weather was superb, brilliant warm sunshine with good numbers of Brimstone and my first Comma of the year. Dartford Warbler and Stonechat were in song and a pair of Wood Lark foraged close to the path but heat haze prevented decent photographs. I spent some time looking for reptiles and a couple of glimpses of Common Lizard, a female Slow-worm and two Adder, a male and an almost black specimen, were good reward. It was time to go and face the bank holiday traffic on the drive to Cowley and I left Acres Down somewhat begrudgingly.

Wood Lark - Acres Down

Fallow Deer - Acres Down

Male Adder - Acres Down

Tuesday 29th dawned early for me, this came hard after a weekend of parties and a change in the clocks to British Summertime. I completed a survey near to Marchwood and decided that I would pop to Pennington for an hour or so before heading into the office. I only had time to bird Efford Lagoon, walk out via Fishtail Lagoon and around Butts Lagoon and back to the car but this was enough in the strong and biting cold westerly wind and heavy squally showers. The Black-tailed Godwit are looking great in their chestnut summer plumage and around 75% of the 250 or so birds are now in this plumage. On Fishtail there were 8 Snipe and a single Spotted Redshank and in the channel to the east of Fishtail Lagoon were 2 summer plumage Little Grebe showing very well. I noted a steady stream of Meadow Pipit moving north and in the time I was there I estimate that around 50 birds passed overhead. At Pennington Lagoon a quick scan produced 7 Spoonbill and 4 Spotted Redshank so I wandered along for a few photos. The Spoonbill were feeding in the shallows for a while before wandering a shore for a preen and the familiar Spoonbill sleeping pose. Time was pressing on and so I headed back to the car and made for work.