Pennington Marsh - 31st August

Sarah and Tobias were heading for a charity tea-party and knowing that I would find this a bore I was permitted to head for Pennington Marsh for a few hours. I parked up at the bottom of Lower Pennington Lane and wandered out past Fishtail Lagoon - this was almost devoid of birds but for a handful of Lapwing, Black-headed Gull and a mass of Canada Goose. Small numbers of Sedge Warbler called from the reeds and rushes and Whitethroat flitted amongst the Brambles. I headed to Keyhaven Lagoon just as a male and female Peregrine broke away from haranguing a Buzzard to flush all the waders from the lagoon, which mainly appeared to be Lapwing and Redshank. I turned back eastwards and spent some time enjoying the Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and around six Yellow Wagtail which were feeding along the tideline.

On Butts Lagoon there were around 75 Black-tailed Godwit while on the falling tideline there were around 50 Grey Plover, 25 Ringed Plover, 30 Dunlin and a small number of Curlew. Four Goosander worked the tideline and on the Solent were 25 Eider and six Great Crested Grebe but the sea was devoid of any Tern species. Wandering back past Shoveler Lagoons a single Wheatear was present on the marshes, only my second of the year. It was time to collect Sarah and Tobias and predictably I waited for around an hour for them to appear when I could have had longer on the marsh.

Yellow Wagtail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Yellow Wagtail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Yellow Wagtail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Meadow Pipit- Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Meadow Pipit- Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

The Nationally Notable A bee Aster Colletes Colletes halophilus was common feeding on Golden Samphire along the seawall south of Fishtail Lagoon today

Pennington Marsh - 29th March

On a beautiful spring like morning, I dropped Tobias off for his last day at school before the Easter holidays and spent a couple of hours at Pennington Marsh. At the corner of Lower Pennington Lane I had a coffee and watched the Lapwing displaying and listened to the Sky Lark but other than small numbers of Wigeon and Teal there was little else on the marsh. I drove down to the car park at the end of the lane and headed a short way along the Ancient Highway. On Efford Lagoon the Great Crested Grebe were displaying and there were around 15 Tufted Duck still on the water. The passerines were in full song with many Sky Lark over the old landfill and the Gorse full of the sound of Greenfinch, Linnet, Dunnock and a single Dartford Warbler.

Male Greenfinch in full song in the Gorse - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Male Greenfinch in full song in the Gorse - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Male Greenfinch eating Hawthorn buds - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Female Greenfinch  - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Meadow Pipit - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Dunnock in song in the Gorse - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Great Crested Grebe - Efford Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

I wandered out past Fishtail Lagoon where the water levels currently look excellent for attracting a rare spring wader. There were at least 12 Ruff, 15 Snipe and 32 Avocet, my highest count ever of the latter for Pennington Marsh. There were still many Wigeon, and Teal on the marsh and I spent some time scanning for Garganey but with no luck. There were also still small number of Brent Goose and Pintail remaining. Wandering out to Keyhaven Lagoon there were five sleeping Spoonbill and a further 16 Avocet plus four Greenshank and two Spotted Redshank. It was time to collect Tobias and retracing my steps I found my first Adder of the year along the northern bank of Butts Lagoon. It had been a pleasant couple of hours but I had seen no summer migrants.

Spoonbill - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Wigeon - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Pennington Marsh - 19th September

After a Hazel Dormouse survey at Bedwyn Brail during which the only rodent I recorded was Wood Mouse, I headed down to the Pennington Marsh before collecting Tobias from school. It was not until I reached the coast that I realised the full force of Storm Ali, the first named storm of the autumn sweeping south-west over the UK. In the woodland at Bedwyn Brail the trees were swaying and leaves were falling but on the coast it was difficult to walk and the sea was lashing the seawall.

I headed to Efford Lagoon and tried to gain some shelter from the wind behind the thorn bushes of the Ancient Highway, scanning across the lagoon there was little to be seen. There were good numbers of Gull sheltering and I managed to pick out a single juvenile Yellow-legged Gull. I headed out to Fishtail Lagoon and managed to find some shelter behind the seawall. There were good numbers of birds on the lagoon with around 75 Black-tailed Godwit, 50 Dunlin, 20 Ringed Plover and a single Spotted Redshank. I spent some time with these birds scanning through them and hoping for an American wader but it was not to be, still I enjoyed watching these birds and taking a few snaps. There were still at least six Yellow Wagtail and 10 House Martin flew through heading west into the wind. Other than this there was little to be seen but birding was very difficult in the extreme conditions.

Storm Ali, the first named storm of the Autumn (windy.com)

Ringed Plover (juvenile) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Ringed Plover (juvenile) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Ringed Plover (juvenile) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Ringed Plover (adult) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Ringed Plover (juvenile) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Ringed Plover (juvenile) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Ringed Plover (juvenile) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Ringed Plover (juveniles) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) a UK colour-ringed bird with the code 58T- Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Black-headed Gull (1st winter) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Meadow Pipit - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Meadow Pipit - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Three of the five Wood Mouse in a Dormouse box - Bedwyn Brail, Wiltshire

Pennington Marsh - 14th September

After dropping Tobias at school I had a short walk around Pennington Marsh before work. There was a patch tick to be seen and so I headed straight to Butts Lagoon. It was not long before the Spotted Crake showed along the reed margin in the south-west corner of the lagoon but views were rather brief as it made its way rapidly along the southern shore of the lagoon to the south-east corner largely keeping to cover. I then watched it for the next 45 minutes feeding along the reed edge in the south-east corner of the lagoon although mainly it kept within the cover of the reeds. Unfortunately, the bird was too distant for any photographs. Otherwise, it seemed fairly quite, a lone Reed Warbler in the reeds on Butts Lagoon and two Chiffchaff were the only warblers that I recorded. Small numbers of Yellow Wagtail are still around the cattle but they are incredibly difficult to see in the long grassland - there were perhaps 15 in total. On the lagoons it was fairly quiet with a single juvenile Ruff, 25 Dunlin, 15 Black-tailed Godwit but I only covered Butts and Fishtail before heading off.

On my way to drop Tobias at school I saw a bird on top of some burnt gorse on Setley Plain, just south of Brockenhurst which looked remarkably Woodchat Shrike like and so I turned around and went back for a quick look, as time was short I was only able to scan from the car. On the way back from Pennington I stopped and spent an hour looking for the bird but with no luck. There were seven Stonechat, 15 House Martin and a few Meadow Pipit but no sign of anything shrike like, I concluded that I must have been mistaken - easily done when birding and driving.

Ruff - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Meadow Pipit - Setley Plain, Brockenhurst

Portland, Dorset - 27th October

I arrived at Portland at 07:30 just as the sun was rising and overhead Meadow Pipit, Sky Lark, Alba Wagtail and Linnet called. During a coffee before setting off and waiting for the sun to rise I spotted a couple of thrush in the scrub along the West Cliffs, chacking calls gave them away as Ring Ouzel so I set-off to get better views. I eventually had fairly good views of a male and female as they fed on Blackberries and Privet berries on the scattered scrub. I birded the west cliffs for a while before dropping down to the observatory. Woodpigeon passed in good numbers overhead and Brambling and Redpoll could be heard calling as they passed over. I birded the Hut Fields and then along the East Cliffs before heading up to Culverwell the highlights being two Firecrest, four Yellowhammer and two Golden Plover. At Culverwell, the southern edge of the scrub was bathed in sunlight and there were good numbers of insects, there were at least three Chiffchaff and a few Goldcrest. I then picked-up what looked to be a fairly pallid Acrocephalus and my immediate impressions were that it was simply a pallid looking Reed Warbler. Other birders approached and it became apparent that there was a rumour that the bird was a Marsh Warbler, this identification morphed into Blyth's Reed Warbler and as the crowd swelled to around 30 this identification took hold. I however was a little sceptical, to me it simply looked wrong in tone being too warm and seemed to have the wrong jizz - I couldn't put my finger on it but it just didn't feel right for a Blyth's Reed. Still I watched the bird for an hour or so before heading back to the car and home. When home I quickly looked at my images of the Acrocephalus and became more certain of my doubts so emailed some images and thoughts to Martin Cade - a little later that day the bird was captured and its identity as a Reed Warbler confirmed.  Martin's account of the day can be read on the Portland Bird Observatory website here.

Ring Ouzel - West Cliffs, Portland

Migrating Woodpigeon - Portland Bill

Little Owl - Observatory Quarry, Portland

Meadow Pipit - East Cliff, Portland

Reed Warbler - Culverwell, Portland Bill

Reed Warbler - Culverwell, Portland Bill

Long-tailed Tit - Coastguard Cottages, Portland

Mornings Totals:

Golden Plover - 2

Lapwing - 1

Woodpigeon - 350

Ring Ouzel - Male and female West Cliffs, on heard at Obs

Redwing - 8

Chiffchaff - 8

Firecrest - 2

Long-tailed Tit- 8 

Reed Warbler - 1

Blackcap - 3 (2 male and a female)

Stonechat - 35

Brambling - 5

Redpoll - 6

Siskin - 35

Reed Bunting 6

Yellowhammer - 4