Pennington Marsh - 18th April

I was hoping for some spring migrants but as I parked on the corner at Lower Pennington Lane and walked west the north-east wind gave a bitter bite and I wished that I was wearing an extra coat and gloves - it was sunny but it felt far from spring like. On Pennington Marsh there were still fair numbers of Wigeon and Teal and a single female Pintail while a scan through the grassland revealed that many of the Lapwing were already incubating eggs. At the Efford Lagoon my first migrants, three Little Ringed Plover fed on the grassland around the lagoon while a Whitethroat sang from the hedgerow along the Ancient Highway with a second bird more distantly on the marsh. I walked out past the Shoveler Pools my hands turned to ice and I had to take shelter from the wind in a sheltered sunny hollow to recover them - approximately six Whitethroat sang obliviously in the Brambles and a female Marsh Harrier past east. At the jetty there was a flock of 25 Turnstone, many gaining their summer plumage with lovely chestnut upperparts and black chest markings. On Butts Lagoon a Ruff and a Spotted Redshank were again present but the Ruff was a far darker bird than that seen on 6th April and so was likely to be a different bird - it was in the same location as the bird on 6th and I at first took it to be the same bird. The distinctive call of a Sandwich Tern and there the distinctive rakish shape flying west along the Solent, my first of the year. On Fishtail Lagoon there was a nice gathering of 30 Shelduck and a lonesome looking Brent Goose while on the mudflats was a flock of 250 Dunlin, many birds now in summer plumage. I wandered onto Keyhaven Lagoon, the wind seemed to be getting colder, there was a single Common Tern, again my first of the year, patrolling the south-east corner of the lagoon and giving excellent views. I decided to call it a day and head for Denny Wood but a final scan at Efford Lagoon produced 30 Sand Martin, five House Martin and five Swallow.

My first Whitethroat of the year

Whitethroat

Female Marsh Harrier

Skylark on the old tip

Turnstone - Now developing their summer plumage with a mix of rufous feathers on the upper parts and a gradually blackening breast

Ruff - Male in the same location as bird on 6th April but apparently a different bird

Dunlin

Gadwall

Common Tern - My first of the year foraging over Keyhaven Lagoon.

 A bird that seems to have a fairly concolourous dark bill. 

Common Tern

Shelduck

Denny Wood felt positively warm, my main target here was to see if the Redstart were back and within seconds of leaving the car I heard them singing. Over the course of an hour or so I saw at least 10 birds many singing males but also a pair prospecting nesting sites, breeding was in full swing. A single Willow Warbler was singing but there were few other migrants evident and with time ticking on I needed to head for home.

Redstart - Male investigating nest hole

Redstart - On song post atop an Oak

Redstart - In full song

Marsh Tit foraging in fresh Oak leaves

Pennington Marsh and Needs Ore Point - 28th November 2014

Its been a while since I have had a chance to get to Pennington Marshes so after a local bird survey I spent a couple of hours at Pennington with a short stop at Needs Ore Point. The undoubted highlight was a juvenile Spoonbill showing well on Efford Lagoon. For a Spoonbill it was relatively lively preening and wandering around, so often Spoonbills are content to stand on one leg for hours on end with their head tucked away.

I spent some time on the bend at the bottom of Lower Pennington Lane scanning the marshes. The water level is high here now and large numbers of birds are present with Wigeon, Shoveler, Teal, Pintail, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank and Starling being present in large numbers. Pintail numbers seem to be very good this year and I estimated at least 175 birds on the floods. Always a little on the distant side for good images, the below provides an indication of the spectacle on Pennington Marshes at the moment.

Mixed flock of Shoveler, Teal, Pintail and Black-tailed Godwit

Mixed flock of Lapwing and Starling

Mixed flock of Lapwing, Pintail, Teal and Black-tailed Godwit

The Brent Geese have taken to their usual field between the camp ground and Lower Pennington Lane. Today there were around 1,500 birds present, some of them showing fairly well. Brent Geese are fantastic birds and very evocative of our south coast marshes and mudflats. There were many juvenile birds present suggesting a good breeding season. While watching a group of three Peregrine pass north overhead flushing all the geese, they headed someway west before returning to feed in the same field.

Adult Brent Goose with a juvenile in the background told by the prominent white edges to the wing coverts

Brent arriving at the field to feed

Adult male and female Brent, the male (the left bird) has the bulkier head and bill

There were good numbers of gulls on Efford Lagoon with around 50 Herring Gull, 15 Great Black-backed Gull, 250 Black-headed Gull, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 15 Common Gull. Its great to have a gull spot at the site and I am sure numbers will begin to build here as the winter progresses and gulls begin to discover the site.

Herring Gull and Black-headed Gull - Most of the Herring Gull are adult with smaller 

numbers of 3rd winter birds

Great Black-backed Gull - A first winter bird

Great Black-backed Gull - Adults

Black-headed Gulls - The left hand bird shows a significant pink flush to the plumage which was more obvious in the field than here. The pigment responsible for this pink flush is thought to be Astaxanthin a Carotenoid. These are biosynthesised by plants and algae which are then consumed by crustaceans and fish which form part of the diet of many seabirds.

Mediterranean Gull - A second winter bird

Mediterranean (same bird as above) and Great Black-backed Gull - This Med Gull has a single dark tip to P7 as well as a dull bill showing that it is an immature bird

After spending some time at Efford Lagoon I wandered out to Fishtail Lagoon and back around Butts Lagoon. It was very blustery with a strong south-west wind blowing and the lagoons were fairly difficult to scan as a result. I spent some time at Fishtail Lagoon finding a sheltered spot and spent some time going through the birds that had gathered here, other than a Greenshank there was nothing much new but the Wigeon were performing well grazing round the lagoon margins while Pintail upended showing how they got their names to full effect. I spent a short while scanning the sea but it was very rough and difficult to find a sheltered spot from which to scan, four Red-breasted Merganser and three Great Crested Grebe were all that could be seen. I wandered back towards the car scanning Pennington Marshes once more. A female Marsh Harrier skimmed east and then back west across the marsh and flushed most of the birds but after wheeling around for a short while they soon settled. I then noticed a sizeable flock of around 250 Golden Plover, a good count for the site.

Two male and three female Wigeon - Wigeon spend a great deal of their feeding time 

grazing short swards adjacent to the waters edge

Pintail - Upending birds showing why they are called Pintail

Pintail - A male and one of my favourite ducks

Golden Plover - Part of a flock of 250 on Pennington Marsh

Curlew - Nice views alongside Lower Pennington Lane

Curlew - Foraging for Earthworms

I then headed for Needs Ore Point and spent a short while watching from the hides. It was very quiet but the sun was out and it was pleasant enough. There were small numbers of duck on the lagoons and a small flock of nine Avocet. It was now 14:00 and I needed to head home.

Mallard - Males were looking cracking in the late afternoon sun

Gadwall - Always look drab even in good light, up close the males are finely vermiculated grey adding a bit of interested

Buzzard - Grappling over the roadbeds at Needs Ore Poin

Buzzard - Grappling over the reedbeds at Needs Ore Point

Avocet - Flock of nine at Needs Ore Point