Pennington Marsh - 1st August

Sarah was heading to Cheltenham for her sisters 40th birthday party, this was ladies party and so I decided to ehad to Pennington Marsh for a few hours in the morning. I walked out past Fishtail to Keyhaven Lagoon and then back east to Jetty Lagoon. The tide was high but there were remarkably few waders present and very few migrants in the bushes. The highlights were a single Common Sandpiper and 34 summer plumage Dunlin on Fishtail Lagoon and the flock of Eider, now numbering 24, showing well off Butts Lagoon.

My eBird checklist for the visit can be viewed here.

Common Sandpiper - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Eider - off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Pennington Marsh - 7th December

On a lovely sunny and mild December day I spent a short while wandering around Pennington Marsh. There were around 350 Brent Goose feeding on the campsite and some were very close to the southern boundary hedgerow affording good views. The flooded grassland on the marsh off Lower Pennington Lane seemed fairly devoid of birds but there was a flock of around 350 Golden Plover roosting on the grassland, three Water Pipit and two Ruff plus a scattering of Lapwing. I wandered out pass Shoveler Pools to the jetty where I scanned the solent for a while picking up a Great Northern Diver feeding at the Lymington River mouth as well as eight Red-breasted Merganser and six Great Crested Grebe. Wandering out to Fishtail Lagoon there were large numbers of Wigeon, Teal and Pintail mainly sleeping in the sunshine. I had household chores to get done and so had to head back after a brief but pleasant visit to my patch, one that I have neglected a little this year, and with an upcoming business trip/family holiday to the USA and then Christmas this is likely to be my last visit of the year.

My eBird checklist for the morning can be seen here.

Brent Goose (adult) - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose (adult with juvenile in background) - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Geese - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Geese - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Ruff - Pennington Marsh

Group of Displaying Mallard - Pennington Marsh

Video of Mallard displaying on Butts Lagoon, I still have not perfected the focus or keeping the camera steady or panning smoothly!

 Wigeon - Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Pennington Marsh

Wigeon - Pennington Marsh

Wigeon - Pennington Marsh

Wigeon - Pennington Marsh

Wigeon - Pennington Marsh

Wigeon feeding on grassland beside Fishtail Lagoon

Kestrel - Pennington Marsh

Pennington Marsh - 12th November

After dropping Tobias at school I had a short wander around Pennington Marsh. It was a beautiful clear day but in the Force 5-6 NW wind it was distinctly cold and wintery. The water levels in the lagoons were high as was the tide and there were large numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Shoveler, Brent Goose, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin on the flooded meadows. There was a single white-headed Ruff amongst the Godwits and at least three Water Pipit forced to the edges of the marshes by the high-water. A male Marsh Harrier caused the birds to fly also flushing around 75 Golden Plover from the marshes. A single Chiffchaff was present in the Bramble of the old landfill.

Water Pipit - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Chiffchaff - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Grey Heron - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Oystercatcher and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal and Dunlin - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Wigeon and Pintail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler, Lapwing and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler and Wigeon - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Pennington Marsh - 11th September

Sarah was in London today and so it was my duty to collect Tobias from school. Heading off from work a little early I spent a couple of hours at Pennington. I had, unintentionally, coincided my visit with the passing of the remnants of Hurricane Dorian that had passed, so devastatingly, over the Caribbean last week before tracking up the eastern coast of the USA and crossing the Atlantic passing to the north of the UK but creating windy and damp conditions further south. It was very windy and grey and difficult conditions in which to bird. Parking at the car park at the bottom of Lower Pennington Lane and walking over the Old Landfill it was evident that there was a small but steady stream of hirundines, mainly House Martin and Sand Martin but a few Swallow, moving west into the wind. A single juvenile Whinchat showed briefly on the dump but despite looking the bird had vanished. I set my scope up to the north of Butts Lagoon and scanned across the mud and water, there were small numbers of wader, mainly sheltering behind the reeds, with a single juvenile Little Stint, four Greenshank, three Spotted Redshank, 50 Black-tailed Godwit, 30 Lapwing, a single Snipe and a handful of Ringed Plover and Dunlin. I wandered onto Fishtail Lagoon but it was almost devoid of birds, a distinctive 'tip, tip' overhead and the Little Stint dropped onto the lagoon with three Dunlin and a Ringed Plover and showed fairly well, if a little distantly for such a small wader. I wandered onto Keyhaven Lagoon where a Wheatear showed well along the path but on the lagoon there was little but for 18 Teal.

I then wandered back eastwards scanning the same areas as before, small numbers of Whitethroat were in the Brambles, on the sea were 15 Eider, two Sandwich Tern, an adult and a juvenile passed by, to the west, but it was fairly quite otherwise. Heading back towards the car via Jetty Lagoon, I stopped at the jetty and scanned the mudflats and sea, there were around 25 Grey Plover, some still in almost full summer plumage, as well as around 45 Ringed Plover and a similar number of Turnstone. I headed back towards the car and then birded the Ancient Highway for a short while, there were four Common Sandpiper on Efford Lagoon along with a single Egyptian Goose. On the highway the birding was tricky due to the strong winds and I recorded singles of Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Lesser Whitethroat and Common Whitethroat plus a trickle of Hirundines overhead. It was time to head off to collect Tobias.

Northern Wheatear - Pennington Marsh

Northern Wheatear - Pennington Marsh

Little Stint and Dunlin - Pennington Marsh

Eider - Pennington Marsh

Sandwich Tern - Pennington Marsh

Sandwich Tern - Pennington Marsh

Common Stonechat - Pennington Marsh

Slimbridge WWT - 23rd December and 4th January

The Christmas and New Year period has been a whirl-wind for me this year with little time for birding and much time wiped out by Tonsillitis such that all I could eat for a good few days was raisins - so, low on energy, feeling rubbish and with social commitments my time in the field and time on this blog has suffered.

We were in Gloucestershire for much of the period with short visits back to Romsey and over to the Isle of Wight at New Year. I made two short visits to Slimbridge on 23rd December and 4th January. I spent much of my time in the hides along the eastern side of the reserve overlooking Tack Piece and northwards across towards the River Severn. There were huge numbers of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon on Tack Piece forming quite a wildlife spectacle. Highlights were two Peregrine, Marsh Harrier, 22 Ruff, 12 Common Crane, 103 Bewick's Swan, 85 Barnacle Goose, 112 White-fronted Goose and, a good record for Slimbridge, a single adult Dark-bellied Brent Goose.

Common Teal were in full display on the Rushy Pen - Slimbridge WWT

Some lovely views of Pintail were had, nice to see the finely vermiculated plumage up close - Slimbridge WWT

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Dunlin - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Lapwing - Slimbridge WWT

Common Snipe - Slimbridge WWT

Pochard - Slimbridge WWT

Common Crane - Slimbridge WWT

Wigeon - Slimbridge WWT

Shoveler - Slimbridge WWT

Smew displaying in one of the collections - Slimbridge WWT