Pennington Marsh - 4th September

As I drank a coffee at the corner of Lower Pennington Lane on a very still early September morning it was evident that there were large numbers of hirundine overhead, I scanned the flock which comprised mainly House Martin moving at some altitude. There were small numbers of Swallow and Sand Martin present but numbers were overwhelming dominated by House Martin. Until around 09:00 the hirundine constantly chattering overhead was a constant feature of the morning and as I reached the seawall at the jetty and scanned back north the numbers present were uncountable, probably several thousand birds present seemingly mainly feeding but with a general westward drift of birds. But, at around 09:00 the wind slowly gathered pace from a north-east direction and the majority of birds vanished with only small numbers left feeding low over the reedbeds and lagoons. I was not sure whether this was a movement of birds as such or whether these represented birds that had roosted in the reedbeds before dispersing - certainly Portland had nowhere like these numbers while at Hengistbury there were 430 House Martin counted.

After parking at Lower Pennington Lane a quick look at Efford Lagoon produced 25 Teal, 10 Tufted Duck, two Wigeon, a single Whimbrel and 11 Snipe but little else. I wandered over the Old Tip where in the Brambles were seven Whitethroat, a single Lesser Whitethroat and three Sedge Warbler. There were good numbers of Yellow Wagtail around the cattle with approximately 30 present. From the seawall, other than the hirundines it seemed fairly slow. The lagoons are still remarkably dry although there appears to be sufficient water to entice small numbers of wader. On Jetty Lagoon were a single Spotted Redshank and four Black-tailed Godwit and a single Reed Warbler was 'pished' from the reeds. On Butts Lagoon numbers were higher with 15 Teal, 45 Black-tailed Godwit, 18 Dunlin, single Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and five Snipe. I scanned to sea from the corner of Butts Lagoon for a while, there was a little to be seen but for a female/immature Goosander feeding around the saltmarsh edges and the summering male Common Scoter still present. On the mudflats were 40 Turnstone, 25 Grey Plover and 30 Ringed Plover. While the male Peregrine sat and scanned the saltmarsh from its favoured perch.

Continuing my journey west along the seawall, Fishtail Lagoon was very quiet but for a couple of Black-tailed Godwit including a superb juvenile in fresh plumage and adult winter and juvenile Spotted Redshank which showed very well as they fed in unison in the shallows. A single Sedge Warbler was skulking in the sedge beds. At Keyhaven Lagoon there were 11 Avocet, 125 Teal, 175 Lapwing and my first Knot of the winter, a small flock of seven juvenile birds. It was 10:00 and time to head to work but it had been a very pleasant morning.

 

Adult winter Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Adult winter Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Moorhen Lapwing - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

There are lots of Goldfinch on the Teasel but they are in heavy moult and looking pretty scrappy - Pennington Marsh

And here are a couple of my favourite autumnal moths which have just appeared on the wing and caught in my trap at our cottage in the Cotswolds over the weekend.

Feathered Gothic - Cowley, Cheltenham

Frosted Orange - Cowley, Cheltenham

India (Rajasthan and Kashmir) Trip - 30th July - Day 6

We were up at 04:30 and headed back to Yousmarg at 05:15 and spent the entire day in the park. We first birded a stretch of road where the pines were mature and the ground flora and scrub layer looked well developed and we hoped looked productive for Black and Yellow Grosbeak and Orange Bullfinch but failed on both. We added Brown-flanked Bush-warbler, Tytler’s Warbler, Yellow-breasted Greenfinch and enjoyed good views of the rather odd looking caniceps race of Goldfinch and more Kashmir Woodpecker and Scaly-bellied Woodpecker After around two hours we headed to a patch of forest that we had seen from the roadside yesterday across the river from the park tollgate. Large areas of the park have been fenced against livestock and these areas have developed a rich ground flora containing many species familiar in the UK such as Foxglove, Meadow and Creeping Buttercup, Yarrow, Red Clover and Ox-eye Daisy and while the species/races may be different to those in the UK the overall appearance of the sward is very English meadow like. We figured that these ‘natural’ and less grazed areas would be better for birds. We climbed a small valley, following a tumbling mountain stream where White-capped Redstart and Grey Wagtail were new for the trip. We then headed ‘off-piste’ and cut through the scrub and pine forest seeing more Tytler’s Warbler, Kashmir Nuthatch, White-bellied Nuthatch, Oriental Turtle Dove, Lemon-rumped Leaf Warbler and Western Crowned Leaf Warbler but things were pretty slow going and we decided to head for lunch at 12:00 seeing a Himalayan Griffon Vulture while we waited for our lift.

After lunch we again birded the forest opposite the reservoir until 16:00 walking a loop away from the road, and back down the hill to rejoin the road but it was very slow going and we added nothing new to the list although we had great views of a Common Cuckoo feeding on caterpillars alongside the trail and a pair of Ultramarine Flycatcher. Much time was spent messing around with fungi, butterflies and dragonflies. We then spent the final hour or so walking down the road birding as we went, again it was pretty slow-going with Oriental Honey Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Mountain Bulbul and a Long-tailed Shrike being the highlights.

We headed back to the boat house after a pretty slow day in the field and hoping for  better day tomorrow, a day arranged via Ibrahim and the house boat in the Dachigam National Park. We had been informed that the park was closed but Ibrahim new the head-ranger and so we had high hopes of getting to a known site for both the Bullfinch and the Grosbeak. Beers, curry and bed!!

Goldfinch of sub-species caniceps - Yousmarg

Himalayan Woodpecker (Juvenile) - Yousmarg.

Grey Bush-chat

Western Crowned Leaf Warbler with bush-cricket - Yousmarg

Pine Bunting - Yousmarg

Blue Whistling Thrush - Yousmarg

Oriental Turtle Dove of sub-species orientalis - Yousmarg

Tytler's Warbler - Yousmarg

White-capped Redstart - Yousmarg

White-capped Redstart - Yousmarg

Common Cuckoo of race bakeri - Yousmarg

Ultramarine Flycatcher (male) - Yousmarg

Queen-of-Spain Fritillary - Yousmarg

Butterfly resembling Grayling - Yousmarg

Ladies-tresses species, a type of Orchid - Yousmarg

Skink species, one of only two reptiles seen during the entire trip - Yousmarg

Oriental Honey-buzzard of sub-species ruficollis. The six primary fingers (versus five for European Honey-buzzard) can be clearly seen - Yousmarg

Booted eagle - Yousmarg

Himalayan Bulbul - Yousmarg

Long-tailed Shrike of race erythronotus with Cockchafer - Yousmarg

View from Marco Polo Boat House at sunset

Links to the other Days of the Trip:
Day 1 - Background and Travel day
Day 2 - Surajpur Wetland and Nahargah Biological Park
Day 3 - Sonkhaliya
Day 4 - Ajmer Thorn Forest and drive back to Delhi
Day 5 - Fly Delhi to Shrinigar (Kashmir) then Yousmarg
Day 7 - Dachigam National Park, Shankarachariya Temple and Dal Lake
Day 8 - Yousmarg then return to Delhi and flights home

If you have any comments or queries on this post then please do not hesitate to contact me at simon@ecosa.co.uk