Slimbridge WWT, Hayling Island, Denny Wood and Pennington Marsh - 17th - 24th April

With the last days before my next foreign trip, work and family life have been hectic. The glorious, warm sunny Easter weekend of 19th April was spent decorating at home with some time on the beach with friends and family and enjoying the garden. Birding of late has been confined to a few short jaunts when time allowed. On 14th April we were at Cowley and so I spent a couple of hours at Slimbridge WWT reserve while Sarah was with friends. Highlights were six Sand Martin, two Willow Warbler, a single Swallow, Sedge Warbler and a few left over Wigeon, Pintail and Teal.

Avocet were showing very well from the Rushy Hide with 29 birds present - Slimbridge WWT

Avocet - Rushy Hide, Slimbridge

Black-headed Gulls were looking fine - Slimbridge WWT

After a breeding bird survey near to Bognor Regis on 17th April, where the highlights were my first Whitethroat, Wheatear and Yellow Wagtail of the year as well as good numbers of Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler, I stopped for a short walk along the Billy Line to the Oysterbeds on Hayling Island. The highlights here were three Whitethroat, 12 Whimbrel and Willow Warbler. I spent some time at the Oysterbeds enjoying the hundreds of nesting Mediterranean Gull and Black-headed Gull and my first Sandwich Tern of the year.

Whimbrel - Hayling Island

Whitethroat - Hayling Island

Nesting Black-headed and Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Sandwich Tern and Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Later in the day on 17th April I popped to Denny Wood where there were good numbers of Redstart on territory. Its always a great pleasure to see these stunning birds in the fresh green, spring leaves of Beech and Oak at Denny Wood.

Redstart - Denny Wood, New Forest

On 18th and 24th I spent a couple of hours at Pennington Marsh, on 18th I walked the Ancient Highway and back around the seawall to Jetty Lagoon and back to the car park. On 24th I walked out past Fishtail Lagoon and back to the carpark. There were many Reed Warbler and Whitethroat on territory as well as small numbers of Sedge Warbler. Up to seven Ruff were present including a stunning rufous necked bird. On both days there were up to six Spoonbill on Fishtail Lagoon. There appear to be two pairs of Little Ringed Plover breeding on Fishtail Lagoon this year. Other highlights included two Common Tern, two Little Tern, a partial summer plumaged Spotted Sandpiper and a stunning summer plumaged Turnstone. 

Ruff - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Turnstone - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Time in the garden produced my first Holly Blue of the year and a couple of Orange-tip but despite scanning the skies over a few cold beers while revising for my trip there were no fly-over migrants.

Orange-tip - Romsey

Pennington Marsh and Grey Phalarope on Hayling Island - 17th September

In a chilly north-easterly wind I was once again at Pennington Marsh. The morning started with a beautiful low lying mist but in the sunny conditions this soon burnt off.  By 08:00 it had turned overcast and for the first time this season I wished I had put an extra layer on and gloves in my pockets. Walking out past Fishtail it was remarkably quiet with no waders but for 25 Lapwing and a handful of Redshank on the pool. The four regular Black Swan were initially on Fishtail Lagoon but were spooked and flew east.

Dawn over Pennington Marsh

Three of the four Black Swan

Scanning across the marshes I picked up a distant Whinchat and a Wheatear. I decided to turn east and head through the Bramble scrub along the southern bank of Butts and Jetty Lagoons hoping for a Wryneck but it was pretty birdless. Scanning over the now cut marshes to the south of Shoveler Pools there were at least 150 Meadow Pipit that had been put up by a passing Kestrel. Wandering out to the seawall I turned east for a short way to scan Pennington Lagoon but there was little here. Scanning to sea produced seven Sandwich Tern and a large flock of perhaps 500 Black-headed Gull feeding offshore. A passage of hirundines eventually picked up with around 350 House Martin, 20 Sand Martin and 50 Swallow moving east. There were still small numbers of Yellow Wagtail with three moving west over this morning. On Jetty Lagoon there were 55 Black-tailed Godwit and 68 Teal, it was feeling remarkably slow and I began to think I might be home early. On the seawall a small flock of eight Yellow Wagtail were showing nicely and I spent a little time watching them although they remained too distant and flighty for any photos. Approaching Butts Lagoon I picked up a small wader in flight and knew immediately that it was a Grey Phalarope, it flew towards me and dropped below the reedline on the southern edge of Butts Lagoon so I changed my angle to get a view along the reedline but by the time I had walked along the seawall it was nowhere to be seen. I put the news out on the Hampshire birding text system and within about 15 minutes I could see Steve Piggot marching along the seawall but at this stage I had not relocated the bird. Steve and I then spent at least 30 minutes looking for the bird but with no luck and we concluded that the bird must have flown. Splitting up, I had only walked a short distance before I heard Steve shout that he had refound it and as I ran back to him I expected to see the bird spinning on the lagoon but Steve had lost it when he had turned to shout to me. We started scanning with no sign of the bird and once more split up. After a further 20 minutes or so I refound the bird where Steve had seen it and watched it for 30 seconds before it flew several hundred metres out into the Solent. I rejoined Steve to find that he had also been watching it on Jetty Lagoon. This was a flighty bird that had clearly just arrived and unfortunately I didn't manage to take any photographs.

We wandered on past Fishtail lagoon where the three Spoonbill were showing well. A scan back out to the Solent produced a small flock of perhaps 15 'Commic' Tern and scanning through we found at least three juvenile Arctic Tern while all the other birds appeared to be Common Tern. A flock of around 50 Black-headed Gull on Fishtail Lagoon also contained an adult winter Mediterranean Gull, a Sandwich Tern and a Common Tern. Keyhaven Lagoon supported a small flock of around 30 Dunlin but little else so I decided to head off.

Adult Winter Mediterranean Gull with Black-headed Gull

Being a little disappointed I had not photographed the Grey Phalarope I decided to visit the bird that had been on the pools at the north end of the Billy Line on Hayling Island. This 1st winter bird had been present since 15th September and had proved to be relatively confiding. On arrival the bird was present on its chosen pools and showed well but perhaps a tad too far and in poor light for really decent photographs, still, I enjoyed this fantastic little bird for an hour and a half before heading for home.

Above images all of the Grey Phalarope at the north end of the Billy Line, Hayling Island. This is a 1st winter bird with dark juvenile feathers retained on the head and upper parts

And this is why the species is called Red Phalarope in the USA - Barrow, Alaska 11th June 2016. See my account of a trip to Alaska here with more photographs from the breeding grounds of Red Phalarope at Barrow here

Pennington Marsh - 22nd May

On Friday 20th May I had a breeding bird survey to carry out in Westergate, Sussex so after finishing at around 08:30 I popped to Hayling Island for an hour or so birding around the Oysterbeds in the north of the island. There wasn't a great deal to be seen but I enjoyed good numbers of Mediterranean Gull and close views of Common Tern amongst the 200-300 pairs of nesting Black-headed Gull. There were around 30 Sandwich Tern offshore but not a great deal else in the short time I was there.

On 21st May I headed down to Pennington Marsh in fairly poor weather conditions with a strong south-west wind blowing and steady rain. As always at Pennington I felt that there was a chance of something turning up, I wandered out past Shoveler Pools and then cut back to Fishtail Lagoon. I spent some time scanning the flooded grassland/pools at the back of Fishtail Lagoon, there were around 40 Dunlin, one Spoonbill and 25 Swift and five Sand Martin buzzing around. I wandered out to Butts Lagoon, here there were around 200 Dunlin, three Whimbrel and 25 Ringed Plover. The wind was howling and the rain almost horizontal so I moved on west along the seawall passing Keyhaven Lagoon and then heading back along the Ancient Highway. There was relatively little to be seen, my mind turned to breakfast and so I headed home fairly early.

On 22nd I was not up until 08:30 with Tobias jumping on the bed, I had a sore head after a bit of a session last night. My phone buzzed, a message from Simon Ingram, Stilt Sandpiper at Fishtail - f*** - it!! I was there yesterday, did I overlook it? Or had it dropped in due to the rain that persisted for much of yesterday. I downed two mugs of coffee, forced some breakfast into Tobias, hassled Sarah to get a move on (today was meant to be a family day) and we were off for a 'lovely stroll' around Pennington. I slipped in the fact that there was a Stilt Sandpiper at Pennington and the response was 'relax', bloody relax!! A British tick on my patch which I may have overlooked yesterday - no chance of relaxing until I was at Pennington. Anyway, a stressful drive through the New Forest, cars parked everywhere at and eventually we were there overlooking Fishtail. Scope up, some shite directions from someone next to me 'its just left of the reeds', firstly they are not reeds they are rush (Hard Rush) and secondly the whole bloody marsh is dominated by rush. Anyway, I got onto it and there in its finery was a fantastic Stilt Sandpiper, lovely barred plumage, chestnut ear coverts and crown stripe, pale legs, pale rump and a rather gangly appearance. It was a lovely summer plumage bird. We watched it for 30 minutes, Tobias drinking his milk and Sarah hogging the scope.

 

Stilt Sandpiper - Fishtail Lagoon

Common Tern - Fishtail Lagoon

We wandered on past Keyhaven Lagoon, along the Ancient Highway and back to the Stilt Sandpiper for a last look. We hadn't seen much else, 80 Swift, 40 Sand Martin, 11 Great Crested Grebe and that was about it. At the Stilt Sandpiper I hogged the scope this time and enjoyed nice views of the bird even though it was a bit distant for my camera. There was an adult Yellow-legged Gull on Efford Lagoon which was a nice bonus and then we headed off - I was very happy

Red-backed Shrike - Sandy Point, Hayling Island 15th September

I had a meeting nearby and couldn't resist popping in for a look at the 1st winter Red-backed Shrike that had been showing well, on and off, since 5th September on Hayling Island. The bird has been frequenting the Bramble and Gorse scrub in the south-east corner of Sandy Point Local Nature Reserve. There is no public access to the reserve due to the delicate nature of the dune flora and fauna and the bird is viewed from the beach. I arrived just as the bird had dropped out of view and after a 10 minute wait it appeared distantly and looking rather bedraggled having just been bathing. After a quick preen and a bit of a sunbath the bird headed to the eastern edge of the reserve closer to the beach and began feeding on craneflies and grasshoppers. Always a little distant for the camera it none the less showed reasonably well.

Also at the reserve were 1st year male Redstart and a Dartford Warbler. Offshore were at least 30 Mediterranean Gull, five Sandwich Tern and three Common Tern. I also had a nice chat with Martin Peacock at the site who's blog, Martin's Sussex Birding Blog, can be seen here, I am sure he will post his pictures of the Red-backed Shrike on the blog in due course

1st winter Red-backed Shrike - Always a little distant for the camera it nonetheless showed fairly well amongst the Brambles. The top image shows it with a grasshopper probably a Field Grasshopper or possibly Lesser Marsh Grasshopper

 First year male Redstart