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 - 5th October

It was a beautiful October day and after dropping Tobias at school I was going to spent the day at Pennington Marsh until it was time to pick him up at 15:30. After a coffee at the corner of Lower Pennington Lane I walked along the full length of the Ancient Highway. It took me almost two hours to walk the 500m or so! I was absorbed in the bushes trying to find a decent bird but in a north-westerly I was not too hopeful. Other than fair numbers of Chiffchaff and Goldcrest there was little to be found. The highlight was an obliging Lesser Whitethroat which despite my best efforts I couldn't turn into one of the eastern races. Three Bearded Reedling passed high overhead to the east, I guess these were local birds simply moving around the site. There was some visible migration evident and I recorded a total of 26 Swallow, 11 House Martin, six Siskin, eight Redpoll and 24 Sky Lark moving west. I spent a fair bit of time around the plantation at the west end of the Ancient Highway but there was little to be seen.

Lesser Whitethroat - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Lesser Whitethroat - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Lesser Whitethroat - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Lesser Whitethroat - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

As I wandered around the seawall it was evident that the tide was very high and the waders on the salt marsh were tiptoeing in knee-deeps water when normally they would be high and dry. Scanning through their ranks there were many Dunlin and Grey Plover and I counted a total of 185 Curlew. Scanning over the scrub looking for the Wryneck that has been present recently I picked up an immature Sparrowhawk that was harassing the pipits, a Marsh Harrier and a Red Kite flew north over. Red Kite is still a scarce bird here.

Sparrowhawk - Iley Point, Pennington Marsh

Walking around the seawall an obliging Wheatear was on the track while at Fishtail there were good numbers of wader with 180 Black-tailed Godwit, six Snipe and 90 Lapwing along with small numbers of Redshank and Dunlin. I watched a pair of Mallard foraging in the shallows accompanied by three Little Grebe, the Little Grebe were diving in the 'slip stream' of the Mallard and were clearly foraging for prey items (small invertebrates) disturbed by the Mallard - I do not recall seeing this feeding association before. Scanning over the saltmarsh I picked up an immature female Merlin chasing a Meadow Pipit which it eventually downed over the scrub at Iley Point.

Wheatear - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Wheatear - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Foraging Mallard accompanied by Little Grebe - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

At the Jetty there were around 30 Turnstone and 15 Dunlin feeding on the seaweed that has accumulated on the beach - quite unusual that the beach is not disturbed by dogs so I spent a little time he photographing them. I then headed along the seawall past Pennington Lagoon before cutting inland and back to the car.

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Turnstone - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Jetty Beach, Pennington Marsh

Chiffchaff - Pennington Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Day Totals

Wigeon - 147

Teal - 295

Pintail - 10

Shoveler - 46

Red-breasted Merganser - 1

Marsh Harrier - 1

Red Kite - 1

Water Rail - 4

Lapwing - 125

Curlew - 215

Black-tailed Godwit - 207

Bar-tailed Godwit - 3

Greenshank - 5

Spotted Redshank - 4

Snipe - 8

Peregrine - 1

Merlin - 1 immature female

Goldcrest - 9

Bearded Reedling - 3

Sky Lark - 24 west

Swallow - 26 west

House Martin - 11

Chiffchaff - 9

Blackcap - 3

Lesser Whitethroat - 1

Stonechat - 11

Wheatear - 5

Siskin - 6 west

Redpoll - 8 west

Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust - 22nd April

We had a weekend at the cottage in the Cotswolds planned but there was to be little time for birding - I need brownie points for an up coming trip! Still, I managed to convince Sarah that a trip to Slimbridge might be nice and she duly arranged to meet with her sister so that Tobias could play with his cousins. My motive was a pair of Black-winged Stilt that had set-up territory on the South Lake and were showing well from the Discovery Hide. So after saying my 'hello's' to relatives I snuck to the Discovery Hide where the stilts were immediately on show no more than 30 metres from the hide. I watched these fantastic birds over the next couple of hours while they fed and often mated around the South Lake. The female was clearly smaller and far browner than the male with a darker head and a great deal of flecking. The male, in contrast, was glossy black above with a largely white head and neck and a distinctive pinkish flush on the breast.

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Female Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Female Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Female Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Female Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Female Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Male Black-winged Stilt - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

There wasn't much else on the South Lake except for at least 18 Avocet and a Greenshank.

Avocet - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Avocet - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Avocet - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Avocet - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Avocet - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Avocet - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Cormorant and Mallard - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Tufted Duck - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

Tufted Duck - South Lake, Slimbridge WWT

A short trip to the Zeiss Hide to look for a Great-white Egret produced several hundred Black-tailed Godwit, a flock of eight Ruff with one bird almost in full summer plumage, four Reed Warbler and two Swallow but no sign of the egret.

Mixed flock of Black-tailed Godwit and eight Ruff. The bird, sixth from left, is a very dark Ruff almost in summer plumage and was widely being claimed as a Spotted Redshank! - Zeiss Hide, Slimbridge