Stanpit Marsh and Keyhaven - 25th and 31st January

Here are a few odds and ends from the last couple of weeks of popping to sites between commitments. 

This was my third attempt at the Stilt Sandpiper that has been knocking around Dorset for the last few months - since early September I believe. My first was to Lodmoor, Weymouth on 16th September  the day after it had departed the site but I did see a Least Sandpiper so all was not bad. The second attempt was to Lychett Bay, Poole Harbour on 21st September where I got a really brief view before the bird flew. Then with the bird appearing to be semi-settled during January at Coward's Marsh and Stanpit Marsh, Christchurch on 25th January I popped to both sites to try my luck. Sod's law the bird was very distant and I managed only this poor record shot of the bird at Stanpit.

Stilt Sandpiper, 1st Winter - Stanpit Marsh, Christchurch

After a bird survey on 31st January and before picking Tobias up from school I popped to Keyhaven for two patch-ticks. Firstly, three White-fronted Goose (two adults and a juvenile) which looked a little plastic on the balancing pond near to the old dump at the west end of the Ancient Highway. Then a 1st winter Iceland Gull foraging for worms in the horse field to the east of Aubrey Farm, Lymore Lane at SZ304917.

White-fronted Goose (two adult and juvenile)- Keyhaven

Iceland Gull (1st winter) - Aubrey Farm, Lymore Lane, Keyhaven

Little Egret - Aubrey Farm, Lymore Lane, Keyhaven

Stilt Sandpiper, Lytchett Bay - 21st September and Pennington Marsh 22nd September

On the afternoon of 21st September I was driving along the A30 past Poole and was aware that the Lodmoor Stilt Sandpiper and been relocated at Lytchett Bay, being only 25 minutes off route I couldn't resist popping in (information on birding the area can be found here). Parking on Seaview Road I walked down Slough Lane and scanned the pool just off the bottom of the lane. There was no sign of the bird here but there were two Green Sandpiper, a Greenshank and six Black-tailed Godwit. I wandered on to French's Pool where three birders were gathered and they reported no sign of the Stilt Sandpiper. I set-up my scope and scanned the flooded meadows here seeing Black-tailed Godwit (25), Greenshank (10), Dunlin 175 and Teal (75) with a Peregrine flying through. In the closest flock of Dunlin were three Little Stint and two Curlew Sandpiper and I enjoyed good views of these, my first of the Autumn. News then broke that the Stilt Sandpiper was on the pool on Slough Lane so the assembled birders (now eight) paced back to the pool where the Stilt Sandpiper was quickly located feeding amongst Lapwing, but no sooner had I got my scope on it when it took flight and flew around the pool before settling again. I again just got the bird in my scope when it took flight this time heading east and seemingly settling in the salt marsh. This was the last time the bird was seen and it has not been reported subsequently at this site. We scanned the pools where two Ruff and four Green Sandpiper plus a Marsh Harrier were present and then I decided to head off. I was somewhat disappointed with my views of the Stilt Sandpiper, while I saw it briefly I did not get a chance to study the plumage of this juvenile bird, the first I recall seeing of this plumage, and certainly didn't get a chance for any photographs. There have been 33 accepted British records of Stilt Sandpiper with an additional 16 in Ireland, of these only eight were juvenile, this age is genuinely a rare bird in the UK.

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper - French's Pool, Lychett Bay, Dorset

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper - French's Pool, Lychett Bay, Dorset

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper - French's Pool, Lychett Bay, Dorset

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper - French's Pool, Lychett Bay, Dorset

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper - French's Pool, Lychett Bay, Dorset

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper - French's Pool, Lychett Bay, Dorset

On 22nd September I spent a couple of hours after dropping Tobias off at school at Pennington Marsh. It was pretty slow going with 32 Tufted Duck now on Efford Lagoon, 17 Pintail, 75 Sand Martin, 50 Swallow, two Spotted Redshank, two Yellow Wagtail and one Sandwich Tern amongst the usual selection of common waders and wildfowl.

Pennington Marsh - 23rd May

On 23rd May I popped to Fishtail lagoon again to spend a couple of hours with the Stilt Sandpiper after all its not every day you have a one on your patch. The bird was showing fairly distantly again on the floods at the back of Fishtail but was in better light than yesterday but my photos are still shite but I guess an improvement on yesterday. The bird fed in the open water of the lagoon rather than amongst rushes like it did on my visit yesterday and it remained solitary not mixing with the nearby Dunlin.

Up to the end of 2014 there had been 33 records of Stilt Sandpiper in the UK with one previous record from Hampshire at Pennington Marsh from 21st July to 3rd August 2002. Most records of the species occur in July, August and September with 76% of all records being of adult birds. The species winters in South and Central America and in the spring migrates north, largely following routes along rivers in the interior of the USA to its breeding grounds in north Alaska, north Canada and around the coasts of Hudson Bay. Birds begin to arrive in their breeding grounds in late May.

Here is a cracking image of another Stilt Sandpiper that has been in the Netherlands recently, I considered whether this may be the same bird as the Pennington bird but the patterning of darker feathers in the upperparts of the two birds differs. 

Above images all of the Stilt Sandpiper on Fishtail Lagoon

Reed Warbler

Roe Deer - A young male feeding on grassland behind Fishtail Lagoon

Hurst Castle and Lighthouse

 

A short wander around the Old Tip and then out to Jetty Lagoon produced around 60 Swift feeding in the area and two male Garganey sleeping on Jetty Lagoon. It was time to head to the office.

That's it for my patch this May, off to Alaska until mid June now.........

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