Pennington Marsh - 23rd March

With a couple of hours to spare after dropping Tobias at school I had a wander around Pennington Marsh taking in Jetty, Butts, Fishtail and Keyhaven Lagoons. It was a bright spring like day but with a strong NW wind it was deceptively cold. Numbers of wader and wildfowl had shown a noticeable and decrease since my last visit with numbers of species such as Wigeon, Pintail and Black-tailed Godwit now into the low hundreds while I only saw 12 Pintail and no more than 50 Golden Plover. The Red-necked Grebe off the seawall is now entering summer plumage but there was no sign of the Slavonian Grebe that have wintered here. There were six Great-crested Grebe and ten Eider off shore but little else. On Jetty Lagoon there was a single Spotted Redshank still in winter plumage and two adult and a juvenile Spoonbill. As I walked along the seawall I flushed my first Wheatear of the season but only managed to obtain an arse-end view as it flew east and out of sight. At the point beside Butts Lagoon the semi-resident pair of Peregrine which seem to spend much time sitting on the shingle bar were harassing the waders. On the mudflats were around 150 Knot, 500 Dunlin and 75 Bar-tailed Godwit while a flock of around 200 Brent Goose fed in the saltmarsh on the rising tide. Keyhaven Lagoon was fairly devoid of birds but for around 40 Shelduck and two Avocet. Turning inland two Bearded Reedling were showing well in the reedbed in Butts Lagoon where they bred last year and two Chiffchaff sung from the old dump. Two Adder showed well on the south facing embankment adjacent to Butts Lagoon and there was a single crisp male along the Ancient Highway.

Bearded Reedling - Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

 Peregrine - Off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

 Dunlin - Off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

 Brent Goose - Off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Mistle Thrush - The Old Dump, Pennington Marsh

 Adder - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Spoonbill (adult left and juvenile) - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

 Spoonbill (juvenile) - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Peregrine - Over Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Brent Goose - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Brent Goose - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Brent Goose, this is one of the few juveniles that I have seen this winter, they seemed to have had a poor breeding season in 2017 - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Coot - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Pennington Marsh and Woodchat Shrike at Chipping Sodbury - 15th September

Another beautiful sunny morning at Pennington Marsh and I decided to walk my normal circuit in reverse, first out past Fishtail and to Keyhaven and back past Butts and Jetty Lagoon and finally past Pennington Lagoon and Shoveler Pools. I had much of the morning to spare after dropping Tobias off so my birding was very leisurely. There were very large numbers of hirundine passing west overhead with many hundreds of birds, I estimated 750 House Martin, 150 Swallow and 75 Sand Martin but this was a fraction of the birds and numbers may have been 2-3x this easily. Two Swift were with the hirundines early on and no doubt these will be the last of the year. I was disapointed at how few waders there were on Fishtail but three Spoonbill showed very well as they fished actively in the lagoon. After the recent numbers of Baird's Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper that have been in the country I spent some time grilling the waders and searching the shallows at Keyhaven Lagoon but other than 25 Grey Plover, one Spotted Redshank, one Knot and 12 Dunlin there was little to be seen. There were increased numbers of wildfowl with 12 Wigeon and 25 Teal on the lagoon. In the dead gorse at the back of the lagoon I was pleased to see three juvenile Whinchat. On past Butts Lagoon three Bearded Reedling showed well, a male, female and a juvenile bird. The spit off Butts Lagoon had a good gathering of waders with 75 Grey Plover, 150 Dunlin and four Knot while 17 Sandwich Tern loafed on the mud nearby. Walking out to Jetty Lagoon the female Red-breasted Merganser was still present but an unfamiliar wader call grabbed my attention and as I got onto the bird I was convinced I had something decent but then I realised I had heard the call before but just in a slightly different habitat and I soon realised the bird was a Purple Sandpiper - still, a patch tick so not to be sniffed at.

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon

There are large numbers of Starling around the marshes at the moment, this 

flock numbered around 350

Greenshank - Jetty Lagoon

The Mornings Totals

Teal - 121

Pintail - 2

Wigeon - 17

Shoveler - 8

Tufted Duck - 32 on Efford Lagoon

Eider - 15

Red-breasted Merganser - 1

Swift - 2 

Grey Plover - 100

Ringed Plover - 30

Knot - 3

Lapwing - 45

Black-tailed Godwit - 53

Bar-tailed Godwit - 6

Dunlin - 150

Snipe - 5

Common Sandpiper - 2

Purple Sandpiper - 1

Greenshank - 1

Spotted Redshank - 3

Spoonbill - 3

Sandwich Tern - 17

Bearded Reedling - 3

Swallow - 150+

Sand Martin - 75+

House Martin 750+

Chiffchaff - 2

Goldcrest - 1

Whitethroat - 1

Dartford Warbler - 3

Wheatear - 6

Stonechat - 6

Whinchat - 2

Meadow Pipit - 

Yellow Wagtail - 2

After picking Tobias up from school I had to drop him at Brockworth near to Cheltenham for a sleep-over with his cousins for the weekend. I then headed to Chipping Sodbury Common where a juvenile Woodchat Shrike has been present since 9th September. I have only seen one juvenile Woodchat previously and this was in the 1980's on the Isle of Wight so I was keen to catch up with this bird. Parking on the edge of the common and walking to the area of bramble scrub that the bird frequents it was not long before I located the bird and over the next 1.5 hours I had some great views as the bird fed on cranefly and on one occasion took a Sericomyia silentis (hoverfly) which it swallowed whole - it barely touched the sides. Also here were six Whinchat, three Wheatear and four Yellow Wagtail. At 17:15 it was time to head for home.

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Whinchat (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Pennington Marsh - 3rd September

I had a little time on Sunday morning before I needed to do some work so on a rather cloudy and windy morning I was up early and headed down to Pennington. Walking towards Jetty Lagoon from the car park I heard a couple of Yellow Wagtail fly over and then a flock of six Spoonbill came off the lagoon and flew east. On Pennington Lagoon there were around 30 Teal and two Greenshank. The sea was pretty choppy on the rising tide and with the strong winds it was difficult to scan to sea but around 25 Common Tern and six Sandwich Tern were present.

I spent a short while scanning from Butts Lagoon but other than a small passage of Sand Martin and Swallow there was little to be seen as the waves were breaking over the last remaining areas of mudflat. On to Fishtail Lagoon it was evident that there had been an influx of ducks since my last visit with around 55 Teal and a single Pintail present. Also here were three Spotted Redshank, one juvenile and two non-breeding birds.

Onto Keyhaven Lagoon there around 175 Grey Plover on the lagoon with my first Golden Plover of the season, an adult in near summer plumage and a single juvenile Knot, also my first of the season. There were around 125 Teal and my first six Wigeon of the season and a further five Pintail.

Spoonbill - These all appeared to be juvenile birds

Spoonbill - An adult and a juvenile

Stormy skies over the jetty looking towards the Isle of Wight

Curlew - On the foreshore by the jetty

Curlew - Same bird as above, in heavy wing moult

Black-tailed Godwit on Jetty Lagoon hungering down in the rain

Spotted Redshank, two non-breeding birds and a juvenile (left bird) - Fishtail Lagoon

Juvenile Spotted Redshank  - Fishtail Lagoon

Non-breeding Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon

Grey Plover and three Dunlin - Keyhaven Lagoon

The Mornings Totals

Teal - 230

Pintail - 6

Wigeon - 6

Grey Plover - 250

Golden Plover - 1

Ringed Plover - 25

Knot - 1

Lapwing - 15

Curlew - 30

Black-tailed Godwit - 125

Turnstone - 75

Dunlin - 150

Snipe - 3

Common Sandpiper - 3

Greenshank - 2

Spotted Redshank - 3

Spoonbill - 6

Common Gull - 2

Common Tern - 25

Sandwich Tern - 6

Peregrine -1

Reed Warbler - 2

Swallow - 25

Sand Martin - 5

Chiffchaff - 6

Whitethroat - 2

Wheatear - 1

Meadow Pipit - 25

Yellow Wagtail - 4

Pennington Marsh and Crockford Bridge - 28th July

After some long hours working over the last couple of weeks I took a couple of hours off in the early morning and went to Pennington Marsh. I have not been to the marsh since the end of April and so a visit was long overdue. I walked out past Shoveler Pools and then back around Jetty and Butts Lagoons before heading back to the car. The weather was terrible, a strong westerly wind and heavy showers and so my visit was brief to say the least. I think most of the birds were sheltering and I saw relatively little. Around 25 Sand Martin were moving westwards into the wind, around 30 Black-tailed Godwit were on the lagoons, two Common Sandpiper, 15 Whitethroat, 75 Dunlin, a few Grey Plover in fine summer plumage and a Spoonbill on Butts Lagoon was about all I saw. I made a dash for the car and was soaked.

Black-tailed Godwit - Now in heavy moult

Black-tailed Godwit - This is a very warn winter plumage bird that had not 

moulted to summer plumage

Black-headed Gull - Now moulting to winter plumage

Black-headed Gull - A juvenile mouthing to 1st winter

Cormorant

Rock Samphire

Bank of rain approaching, it was very wet and windy and felt more like November than late July

Grey Plover - Fantastic birds in summer plumage

Spoonbill

As I left the weather brightened slightly and I decided to pop into Crockford Bridge in the hope of finding some sheltering Odonata - perhaps ridiculously optimistically. I wandered for around 50m east from the road and fairly quickly found a couple of Southern Damselfly and a Blue-tailed Damselfly but with more rain approaching I decided to head for the office.

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Southern Damselfly

Small Copper

Brown China-mark

Hampshire Purslane

Round-leaved Sundew