Beaulieu Road Station and Pennington Marsh - 1st and 2nd April

I had worked a long week despite the Bank Holiday and so on Friday 1st April I finished at 14:00 and headed to Beaulieu Road Station for a walk. I parked at Shatterford and walked south, along Bishop's Dyke and back via Denny Wood. Stonechat numbers seemed to be up, with 12 birds seen, returning summer migrants? Then a definite migrant and my first migrant of the year, a male Redstart frantically foraging in the Silver Birch at Bishop's Dyke. I think that this is the first time ever that my first spring migrant has been a Redstart. Other than that, four Wood Lark (2 at Denny wood and 2 at Bishop's Dyke), 2 Redpoll and a couple of singing Chiffchaff were the highlights. Still, it was great to be out on a lovely spring afternoon.

Male Redstart - Bishop's Dyke

On 2nd April I spent a few hours at Pennington Marsh and walked the full loop out past Fishtail Lagoon, past Keyhaven Lagoon, along Iley Point and back along the Ancient Highway taking in the balancing pond to the north of the Ancient Highway. It was a glorious spring morning but with a cold north-west wind. Three Chiffchaff sang around the car park and Mediterranean Gull called overhead. Numbers of wader and wildfowl and now definitely on a significant decline as birds move north with only around 75-100 Black-tailed Godwit the commonest species. I spent some time overlooking Fishtail Lagoon and enjoyed 5 Spoonbill as they flew in from the north. Also present here were a couple of Ruff and around 12 Snipe. A short seawatch at the point at Butts Lagoon produced a couple of Sandwich Tern. At Keyhaven Lagoon my first Swallow appeared with a second at Iley Point. I walked to the fields to the north of the balancing pond where a male and female Wheatear were my first of the year. Two Marsh Harrier showed over the reedbed and around 20 Sand Martin fed around the balancing pond. As I walked back along the Ancient Highway my final spring migrant of the day was a Willow Warbler which sang from the bramble scrub.

Chiffchaff - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit, almost full summer plumage - Pennington Marsh

Mediterranean Gull, calling overhead - Pennington Marsh

Mediterranean Gull, such cracking birds - Pennington Marsh

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Male Reed Bunting - Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh 

Male Reed Bunting - Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh 

Little Egret - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Meadow Pipit - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Lagoon, this bird still in winter plumage - Iley Point, Pennington Marsh

Female Marsh Harrier - Pennington Marsh

Beaulieu Road Station and Stockbridge Down - 13th May

Having finished a survey a little earlier than thought I decided to head to Beaulieu Road Station for a short walk before heading to the office. It was a beautiful warm mid-May morning, just when the New Forest is at its best. Dartford Warbler were conspicuous and in full song and on the path from Shatterford Car Park south to Bishops Dyke two males were in full song amongst the Gorse and Heather.  

Dartford Warbler (Male) - Beaulieu Road Station

Dartford Warbler (same bird as above)

There were three pairs of Stonechat between the Shatterford Car Park and Bishop's Dyke and all had at least three fledged chicks as a result the adults, and especially the males, were defensive and followed me with their harsh chacking. While there were at least two bubbling Curlew and two pairs of Lapwing I was a little concerned not to hear any drumming Snipe, a sound that is usually typical of this site in the spring.

Stonechat (Male)

Through the scattered trees that line Bishop's Dyke the distinct 'chipping' of Crossbill could be heard from the Larch and Scot's pines and eventually at least three adult male, five female and 10 juvenile were seen although all were rather distant in the tree-tops. There were at least three singing male Redstart here and again the birds were mostly frequenting the tree tops, their stunning plumage contrasting against the blue sky of the morning. I had a quick coffee in Denny Wood where other than a Cuckoo singing amongst the Birch little was to be seen - even the Redstart were remarkably quiet presumably settled into breeding.

Crossbill - Male in Larch

Redstart - Male

Cuckoo in Birch at Denny Wood

With an hour or so to spare I decided to head to Stockbridge Down, one of my old butterfly'ing haunts, to catch-up with some spring species. Stockbridge Down is a fantastic site with a good diversity of butterfly species as well as picking-up a few migrant birds. I parked in the lower car park and walked along the track running parallel with the road and then over the road to the fantastic flower-rich meadow with abundant Cowslip. Below are the highlights of my short stop, in addition a single Pearl-bordered Fritillary was seen, a species I have not seen at this site previously.

Small Heath - Two were seen and both appeared freshly emerged

Dingy Skipper - Approximately 15 seen, most were again very fresh

Dingy Skipper - Feeding on its larval foodplant, Horseshoe Vetch

Grizzled Skipper - Just one seen

Duke of Burgundy - The prize species with at least six seen

Duke of Burgundy showing the underside of the wings

Duke of Burgundy belongs to the 'Metalmarks' a family with distinctive metallic markings, in this image the metallic bluish of the base of the forewing can be seen

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

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